Beginner needing advice on buying SACD

[Gulelin]

Hello all,

Beginner here, first post. Some background: I am just starting to get into high quality audio thing. I am a musician and a fan of music, but have only recently begun to appreciate classical. I have my first home theater set up now- nothing high end- a Denon AVR-1912 and an Energy Take Classic 5.1 for speakers. I am debating on buying a dedicated SACD player but I am not sure if it's worth it or if so whether I should buy an all-in-one (i.e. Blu Ray capable) player.

Right now I just have a Panasonic DMP-BDT210 playing CDs. It's loud (I can hear the disc spin) and I have no idea what it's quality is compared to mid-range dedicated CD/SACD players. I've also read that the different is negligible if connected via HDMI.

So that's where I'm at. I could probably spend in the $300-500 range to pick something new up, but I don't know if it's worth it or what to get. I'd really like to hear feedback about the quality of SACD VS CD, whether it would make a difference with my current set up, etc. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[skizzerflake]

SACDs are great if you can find them. The higher bit rate coupled with 5.1 sound make them a dimension better than a CD. Unfortunately the hi-res 5.1 thing arrived right around the same time as the portable device thing and at seems that convenience has won out over sound quality in the marketplace. You need an audiophile site or store to find them. I have to admit that I'm not much of a believer that one player is that much different sound-wise from another, so I would recommend buying a player that plays all of the formats and that streams. Oppo has players that do that. Just in case you find a DVD-Audio disk somewhere (they sound as good as SACD), it will play those too.

 

[sholling]

At this point I really wouldn't invest a bunch of money in an SACD player unless you already have a collection. It's an obsolete format and the few players still on the market cater to those with existing collections that they haven't yet transferred to multichannel FLAC. But if you must have one then I know some older models of the PS3 will play SACD. I'm not sure about the newer ones, and of course there are Oppo Blu-ray players.

What's likely to replace SACD and DVD-A are Blu-Ray, Blu-Ray Audio and 24bit FLAC. Keep in mind that it takes pretty good speakers and very good ears to hear the difference between a well recorded CD and higher quality formats. Hardware media players that support 24bit FLAC with gapless playback (gapless is almost a must for classical music) aren't very common yet but you can always use your PC and a free software player.

 

[psbfan9]

Hi Gulelin,
Welcome to the forum. I have a Sony BDP S580 Blu ray player and I'm very happy with it.
I have to say though, I can not tell a difference between some CD's and some SACD's. When there is a difference, it's very subtle.

Here's a link to the player I have.

Sony BDP-S580 3D Blu-ray disc player

 

[Irvrobinson]

At this point I really wouldn't invest a bunch of money in an SACD player unless you already have a collection. It's an obsolete format and the few players still on the market cater to those with existing collections that they haven't yet transferred to multichannel FLAC. But if you must have one then I know some older models of the PS3 will play SACD. I'm not sure about the newer ones, and of course there are Oppo Blu-ray players.

What's likely to replace SACD and DVD-A are Blu-Ray, Blu-Ray Audio and 24bit FLAC. Keep in mind that it takes pretty good speakers and very good ears to hear the difference between a well recorded CD and higher quality formats. Hardware media players that support 24bit FLAC with gapless playback (gapless is almost a must for classical music) aren't very common yet but you can always use your PC and a free software player.

Basically good advice. Don't invest. I have very good speakers (Revel Salon 2s) and pretty good ears, and I can't hear a lick of difference between the SACD and Redbook layers on the same hybrid disc. The future is downloaded files, but until that matures CDs are the best bet.

 

[j_garcia]

Basically good advice. Don't invest. I have very good speakers (Revel Salon 2s) and pretty good ears, and I can't hear a lick of difference between the SACD and Redbook layers on the same hybrid disc. The future is downloaded files, but until that matures CDs are the best bet.

You won't hear much of a difference because they are typically from the same master. I DO hear a difference on certain ones, not so much on others; so it will vary depending on what you are listening to.

I completely agree though, SACD and DVD-A are pretty much over, so no point in buying gear for them now. The best discs are either out of print or hard to find, so in either case they cost far more than they are going to get you in sound quality improvements. Most of the highly sought after discs cost as much or more than the OP's player.