DVD/Audio vs SACD

[MarieonCape]

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gene : While I am in full agreement with you regarding MP3, just what is the problem with existing CD other than it is not multichannel?  I hear alot of complaints about the CD format, but usually no solid reasons against it.

Revealing my beginner status I thought the problem was that audiophiles complained that that analog LPs sound better than CDs because, well, they are analog, and CDs don't get all waveform or the harmonics of natural sound. I thought SACD was being offered as a solution to this problem and that the advantage of SACD (and DVD-A?) over CD was the huge difference in the sampling rate resulting in more data per time period, thus more closely reproducing the actual analog curve of sound VS the chunky stair step of digital sampling at 44 Hz and with the huge frequency response and dynamic range means a more natural, better sound. But surely Gene knows this and I am missing the obvious question.

Backing those that say that the CD has reached some sort of zenith I have to say my CDs have never sounded better than &nbsp;with my Denon 2200 and the SACDs and DVD-As that I've bought don't sound as different from the CDs as I expected they would. I can't compare how CDs used to sound on my old player to the way they sound on the 2200 since my old player (Sony 550 something) simply stopped playing anything after a slow to rapid decline.

One reason I got the 2200 was because I wanted to be able to play SACDs as well as DVD-As. So far I've haven't seen titles offered in both formats, it has been one or the other so I am glad to have the player that will play both.

Marie</font>

 

[Unregistered]

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<font color='#000000'>Unfortunately there is no concrete answer to this. &nbsp;Some people think SACD is better, some think DVD-A is better. &nbsp;The fact is, &nbsp;is really depends on the individual recording whether it be on DVD-A or SACD. &nbsp; There are some albums on SACD that sound inferior to the same album on DVD-A and some DVD-As that sound inferior to SACD. &nbsp;

The best thing you could do is read reviews on particular titles. &nbsp;I am sure there are websites that compare the two formats in regard to the same albums. &nbsp;If that does not work, it might come down to trial and error.

Shinerman</font>

There are very serious objections to the SACD performance on this website:
http://sound.westhost.com/cd-sacd-dvda.htm

Ing. Öhman, a renowned audio engineer, in a very interesting interview. The interview is followed by an argumentation between Ing. Öhman and Derf Reefman, Philips Research Laboratories.
Very interesting reading for those in search of facts about actual limits in performance of both systems.

Cheers

Eric

 

[gene]

CD has been given a bad rap mostly by audio elitist (usually the same people that dig cable voodoo). There is a reason why some LP's sound better than CD's and it has nothing to do with the format. We will be posting an article about this shortly. Stay tuned...

In the meantime, take a look at these articles to whet your appetite:

Audio Formats
Dynamic Comparison of CD, DVD-A & SACD - Diana Krall's The Look of Love

Dynamic Comparison of CD, DVD-A & SACD - Diana Krall's The Look of Love Part II

Brickwall Digital Filters and Phase Deviations in Digital Audio

Current Trends in the Recording Format Arena - Part I

Current Trends in the Recording Format Arena - Part II


These can be found here:
http://www.audioholics.com/techtips/specsformats/index.php

 

[Unregistered]

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Revealing my beginner status I thought the problem was that audiophiles complained that that analog LPs sound better than CDs because, well, they are analog, and CDs don't get all waveform or the harmonics of natural sound. I thought SACD was being offered as a solution to this problem and that the advantage of SACD (and DVD-A?) over CD was the huge difference in the sampling rate resulting in more data per time period, thus more closely reproducing the actual analog curve of sound VS the chunky stair step of digital sampling at 44 Hz and with the huge frequency response and dynamic range means a more natural, better sound. But surely Gene knows this and I am missing the obvious question.

Backing those that say that the CD has reached some sort of zenith I have to say my CDs have never sounded better than &nbsp;with my Denon 2200 and the SACDs and DVD-As that I've bought don't sound as different from the CDs as I expected they would. I can't compare how CDs used to sound on my old player to the way they sound on the 2200 since my old player (Sony 550 something) simply stopped playing anything after a slow to rapid decline.

One reason I got the 2200 was because I wanted to be able to play SACDs as well as DVD-As. So far I've haven't seen titles offered in both formats, it has been one or the other so I am glad to have the player that will play both.

Marie</font>

The dynamic range on an analog recording system commonly used during the late analog era (such as the Revox R77) reaches at most 77dB s/n. The moderna digital recording systems has often well above 100 dB s/n ratio.
LP's "can" sound better than CD's of course but it is much more important to show on the inherent limits in each system, in order to point to a way for the future of the various formats.
Since SACD has _lower_ resolution than the CD format in the highest octaves (5-20 kHz), this will certainly affect the performance of this syste. High frequency noise is another issue with SACD.

http://sound.westhost.com/cd-sacd-dvda.htm

 

[Unregistered]

<font color='#000000'>Yep! When I was looking for a dvd player, I went into Best Buy and asked for a player that would play both SACD & DVD-A. The salesman said, "all of them do".

I asked for someone else. The next expert said, "you must be looking for a cd player".

</font>

I can identify with this kind of experience. Most morons working at Circuit City or Best Buy simply don't know what they are talking about. They always seem to tell people that products like Sony and Bose are the best things on the planet. I even heard some guys telling a customer that a receiver with double the power will play music at twice the volume. Where do these morons come from and why they make such stupid claims when they don't even know what they are talking about?