SACD, FLAC, DVDA, HDCD... What?!?!?

[Purple Haze]

Thanks again, guys. You were nothing but helpful. And I'm in a better place now than before.
1. I know SACD is likely the highest quality scheme/format available to me w/ my equipment.
2. SACDs, like all media, are subject to the quality of the master used, and copying equipment & technique.
3. SACDs are capable of considerably more information than CD due to thicker layer and laser focal length of your player.
4. SACDs can be stereo or multi-channel.
5. My Brothers In Arms SACD can produce an example of probably the highest quality stereo audio my equipment can produce.
And all that for $35.
I'd say it was a pretty good experience.
Thanks again for all ya'lls help.

Hi Herb,
Be sure to run your 7.1 channels individually to the 7.1 analog inputs into your receiver ( if it has). I feel the sound separation is better and precise when playing SACDs.
Thanks

 

[Seth=L]

SACD - Some are multichannel only, some are stereo only, some are both, and some are SACD/CD hybrids. The hybrids contain two layer substrates, one is SACD for compatible machines and the other is ordinary CD so it can be played in any ordinary CD player. Cost - expensive / Occurrence - rare

DVD-Audio - Use the DVD Video format but adds a special audio track that isn't compatible with ordinary DVD players called MLP Lossless. This audio format is basically high resolution multichannel PCM. Most DVD-Audio discs contain secondary 2 channel basic PCM tracks as well as Dolby or DTS multichannel tracks. Cost - expensive / Occurrence - rare

HDCD - Hybrid CDs with 20 bit and 16 bit compatibility. If your CD player has HDCD decoders it will utilize the 20 bit data stream, if you have the CD player connected via Optical or Coaxial to an HDCD compatible DAC, processor/preamp, or receiver, it will utilize the 20 bit data stream, in all other instances it uses 16 bit. This means if you connect an HDCD compatible CD player to a receiver via optical or coaxial digital that does not have HDCD compatibility, you will only get 16 bit. Cost - typical of normal redbook CDs / Occurence - common

FLAC - A lossless rip from another digitized source. This is a codec that is mostly used in the data world, via computers and can be stored on optical, hard disc, or solid state data devices. Unlike MP3s the data is completely uncompressed, so file sizes are larger and data loss is minimal to nill. Some people like to rip LPs to this format as well as CDs. This is especially convenient for LP rips because you can get very high quality rips from a properly setup turntable and recording device connected to your PC or MAC. Cost - cost only of original media you're ripping from / Occurrence - open availability

As was mentioned above with your player you'll likely get the best performance from using the player's analog multichannel outputs. Some receivers can process SACD's DSD (Direct Stream Digital) and DVD-Audio's MLP Lossless PCM if connected via HDMI.

 

[PENG]

Quality of the recording trumps formats for sure. CD can sound better than 192/24, SACD, DVDA but it is reasonable to assume the odds are that there are more SACDs that offer better sound quality than the other way round. It's not the format that makes them sound better, but for reasons others have already cited.

 

[Purple Haze]

Thanks Seth
BTW I got the Oppo BDP103 . That takes care of all the formats and extremely versatile.
Best regards
PH