SACD cable options

[Mmo]

i have a 12 year old sony 5 disc SACD, played over a marantz SR7007 into good speakers. it uses only an optical toslink cable, or 6 RCA types for 5.1.
playing regular CD's, would there be any difference in sound? i reckon the optical would be more accurate but the RCA's would give better separation, not that i'm playing anything recorded in 5.1.

would upgrading to a good SACD using HDMI cables make any difference with regular CD's?

 

[j_garcia]

You can only listen to SACD via the analog connections for a player like that. Optical won't work and no, optical won't be more "accurate". No there won't be any difference in regular CDs either, because the SACD function is based on the disc type being listened to; aka, a CD is played as a CD, there is no processing that the player does; it is in the recordings on the SACDs.

Even with a higher end player, you will still use analog for the best experience in most cases.

 

[markw]

To expound a bit on what Mr. Garcia said, if you're only playing CD's not SACD's or DVD's, then it won't make any difference which you use, toslink or analog. In your case, you only need two analog cables since CD's are only two channel.

The ultimate arbitrator in how the sound is will be which DAC is better: If the SACD player has a better DAC than your receiver then you might realize a bit of improvement using analog.

If that is a DVD player then you need to run either the toslink or the six analog cables to get the full multi-channel experience. Again, you cannot pass a SACD signal through toslink.

 

[Mmo]

thanks gents, figured. i keep wanting to buy a high end SACD player that supports HDMI, but as i don't buy SACD's, there's really no need. i'll stick with the very good quality analog cables. the marantz DAC is also very good.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

in the end of the day, investing in better speakers and room treatments will provide significantly better result and value.
one dac MAYBE better than another, but if you playing it on , say Pyle speakers , you wont notice the difference anyhow

 

[Mmo]

already got the good speakers.
just looking to upgrade the the possibly weakest link.

is it true that digital music played from a hard drive sounds better than CD anyway, all other things being equal?
assuming a good media player like JRiver is used, FLAC files, and there's a good external DAC.

 

[Nestor]

Your music will sound no different played from a hard drive or CD player.

Changing cables or DAC's won't net you any audible gains unless one of those items was defective in the first place.

How's your room treatment? Have you measured to see how your speakers are performing in your room?

Correcting acoustic anomalies will net your much greater gains.


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[Mmo]

thanks nestor. the room is rather large, L shaped and has lots of floor to ceiling windows, a set of french doors and vaulted ceilings. nice house, but not the best for acoustics. i ran audyssy on the marantz a few times, but need to tweak after to get what i want.

how would i measure?

and, i made cutouts in the walls to partially conceal my big JBL towers, one of which is in a corner. not recommended either.

suggestions for room treatments?

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Jbl towers?is it Es series by a chance?

 

[markw]

is it true that digital music played from a hard drive sounds better than CD anyway, all other things being equal?

Your standard redbook CD can sound pretty dang good if they are done right.

A lot of the complaints about their sound can be laid at the feet of the recording and mastering, not the media.

 

[Nestor]

thanks nestor. the room is rather large, L shaped and has lots of floor to ceiling windows, a set of french doors and vaulted ceilings. nice house, but not the best for acoustics. i ran audyssy on the marantz a few times, but need to tweak after to get what i want.

how would i measure?

and, i made cutouts in the walls to partially conceal my big JBL towers, one of which is in a corner. not recommended either.

suggestions for room treatments?

Room EQ Wizard(REW) is a common measurement software. There's threads on it here, and an extensive one on avs forum. I've also seen discussions on tweaks when using Audyssey discussed here and AVS.

You will also need a calibrated USB mic and a laptop. Parts express.com is one site you can check out.

As for room treatments, well, there's really no "one size fits all" solution, hence, the measurements. With that, you can at least get some idea of what your problem areas are, which then lead to effective solutions.



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[Mmo]

Jbl towers?is it Es series by a chance?

there L5's. i bought them used from the owner of a hi end audio store. at that time they were 10 years old and he had just replaced the foamies all round. he said they were $2500 canadian, and i get them for $600. that was about 8 years ago now; i had a voice coil recently replaced and decided to get all new high end fat crossovers installed.
they're 6 ohm rated speakers, and the software graph from the shop showed them lower, with the usual variations. my marantz SR7007 would cut out at high volumes, so i picked up the emotiva XP-5 gen 2 to power them. ear ringingly loud and clear. i'm a mid range whore, love the whack of a snare and punchy guitar/ vocals. they could use a little more here; have a tannoy ported 10 inch sub and new SVS air suspension 12 inch sub.
my surrounds are JBL L820's. bought em case they're damn heavy and 4 way, like the L5 towers. the surrounds are good enough listening to 2 channel audio just on their own.

could certainly spend more for better, but i'd recommend the JBL's.

appreciated,

Mmo

 

[Mmo]

Room EQ Wizard(REW) is a common measurement software. There's threads on it here, and an extensive one on avs forum. I've also seen discussions on tweaks when using Audyssey discussed here and AVS.

You will also need a calibrated USB mic and a laptop. Parts express.com is one site you can check out.

As for room treatments, well, there's really no "one size fits all" solution, hence, the measurements. With that, you can at least get some idea of what your problem areas are, which then lead to effective solutions.



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thanks nestor. room treatments and speaker positioning are now likely my weakest link. i've seen some ideas of speaker positioning on audioholics. i'll have to read more.

 

[Mmo]

Your standard redbook CD can sound pretty dang good if they are done right.

A lot of the complaints about their sound can be laid at the feet of the recording and mastering, not the media.

Your standard redbook CD can sound pretty dang good if they are done right.

A lot of the complaints about their sound can be laid at the feet of the recording and mastering, not the media.

thanks. true, the compression and cheap mastering start the whole problem. you all are likely familiar with the site justiceforaudio.com

they have specs on recordings.

cheers,
Mmo