SACD...Stereo???

[PhillyDan1969]

Well I went and finally purchased an SACD today to play on my Denon 2200 I picked up back in early February. It was the Police and I thought they would be a good group to start with. I get the SACD home, pop it in the player and low and behold...2 channel steroe?!? Stupid me, I looked closely on the packaging and it said SACD Stereo!!! I had no idea that SACD Stereo CDs even existed, but I bought one. It is a nice recording I guess, but kind of misleading to say the least. Anyone else purchaed one of these?

 

[av_phile]

Well, that could be a lesson to read the labels more carefully. Not ALL SACDs are in multi-channel. But the indications, often at the back, clearly spell out if its multichannel or stereo SACD. My Patricia Barber SACDs are all in Stereo, not multi. Even the Telarc SACD classics I saw at the shelves were in stereo only. I think the early re-issues on SACD were just in stereo. Even the early SACD players only had stereo analog outs.

I did encounter a problem in the past about HYBRID SACDs. As I didn't have an SACD player yet, I would often get an SACD title that was not available on CD just to play the CD layer. Once, I bought an SACD that didn't have a CD layer so I had it returned to the store and get another title that was hybrid. Silly me, the SACD labels point these things out quite clearly.

 

[MarieonCape]

The previous note had good info. Multi channel SACD is newer than stereo. To further back up the idea that Super Audio CDs in stereo aren't wrong, or a rip-off, is found on the front of your player - there is a Super Audio CD setup button that will cycle through "Multi", "Stereo", and "CD" settings though if you leave the default setting to multi in the setup menu it will default to multi channel if available, else you get stereo. The channel lights on the front are helpful to see what you have. If you use Super Audio CD Setup button on the front of the player while listening to multi channel SACD and you want to compare it to stereo sound from the SACD and you switch to "stereo" you will find it isn't like using a surround effect or input mode switch, the player actually stops the disc and you will have to restart it to hear it in stereo or vise versa.

Here is where I am using my memory so I know if I am wrong someone will correct me, but, I believe that a SACD in stereo delivers a higher resolution signal in stereo than multi channel - hence some will prefer the purity of the stereo sound and in the case of "vintage" music it may be more "authentic".

P.S. I am planning to add a note in the forum for a DVD Audio in mult-channel from a "vintage" group that is quite cool!

 

[20to20K]

I have Synchronicity on SACD...

...and the sound quality is dramatically improved on my system than the redbook version. I was aware when I bought it that it was 2 channel...I just wanted to hear the improvement...and I did.

Whether or not 2 channel SACD are a worthwhile investment to you depends on your personally listening habits. I'm not a huge multi-channel music listener...I have maybe 4 or 5 multichannel DVD-A's and only one multichannel SACD (Come Fly Away). I'm a 2 channel guy for the most part but I always want the best possible sound so 2 channel SACD are worth it to me. I even listen to DVD-A in 2 channel mode sometimes just for the heck of it.

 

[DISCMAN]

The Police Singles collection on SACD is M/C, but I prefer the sound on the album SACDs (SYNCHRONICITY blew me away) as compared to the sound on the Singles collection SACD. IMHO.

 

[Mega2000]

that reminds me when i acidentally get a full screen DVD when I am in a hurry at best buy... I HATE that

 

[PhillyDan1969]

exactly...

I was in a hurry and I didn't thoroughly read the label!!! Live and learn!

 

[Dan]

I got burned checking the label too quickly once. I have a Denon 2900 and didn't think I had to worry. Bela Fleck's Outbound CD is actually HDCD which Denon can't play. The print is very small for the HDCD.

As I have said in many places here, I prefer two channel for "conventional" music but multichannel for Pink Floyd,Blue Man Group etc. I have a few old reissues on stereo SACD but I don't think the improvement justifies the cost on these older resiisues. I'm talking 50s and 60s stuff. There are a few exceptions I have found however which are generally classical: The 1960? recording on Leonard Bernstein and NY Philharmonic doing Copeland and a 1970s quadrophonic recording of E. Power Biggs playing Bach organ contatas on four organs at once! Really wild. It made me wish that I had FOUR SUBWOOFERS

 

[PhillyDan1969]

The Police!

The Police Stereo SACD I bought is very nice and sounds great, but I was trying to buy a multichannel SACD since I have never listened to one.

I went out tonight and purchased TOTO IV tonight on Multichannel SACD and immediately fell in love. I love 2 channel very much but the more I listen to multichannel audio, be it DTS, DVD-A or SACD, the more I find myself buying these recordings.

 

[genesis471]

I did the same thing, was so ticked at myself too!

 

[Rob Babcock]

I got burned checking the label too quickly once. I have a Denon 2900 and didn't think I had to worry. Bela Fleck's Outbound CD is actually HDCD which Denon can't play. The print is very small for the HDCD.

Your 2900 should have no problem at all playing an HDCD encoded disc. It won't do the decoding, but I'd be very surprised if you could tell and diff.

 

[sts9fan]

I am running 2 channels

Can i buy multi channel SACS's? I have my player set to 2 channel for the few dvds I play so would this work for the SACDs or would I be missing stuff?

 

[20to20K]

I got burned checking the label too quickly once. I have a Denon 2900 and didn't think I had to worry. Bela Fleck's Outbound CD is actually HDCD which Denon can't play. The print is very small for the HDCD.

As I have said in many places here, I prefer two channel for "conventional" music but multichannel for Pink Floyd,Blue Man Group etc. I have a few old reissues on stereo SACD but I don't think the improvement justifies the cost on these older resiisues. I'm talking 50s and 60s stuff. There are a few exceptions I have found however which are generally classical: The 1960? recording on Leonard Bernstein and NY Philharmonic doing Copeland and a 1970s quadrophonic recording of E. Power Biggs playing Bach organ contatas on four organs at once! Really wild. It made me wish that I had FOUR SUBWOOFERS

HDCD's are hybrid...meaning that will play on all CD players. Unless you have an HDCD decoder on your player you will not get the best possible sound, but it will sound at least as good as the conventional CD would. The difference has to do with the bit encoding as I understand it. Conventional CD's are 16-bit while HDCD is 20 bit. I've heard this difference is audible...but not as overwhelming as the difference between conventional and SACD/DVD-A.

Usually only hi-end CD players have HDCD decoding on them. I believe Denon's top of the line 5 disk carusel changer decodes HDCD...the DCD 370 or something like that...

 

[Dan]

Your 2900 should have no problem at all playing an HDCD encoded disc. It won't do the decoding, but I'd be very surprised if you could tell and diff.

Sorry but it wouldn't play at all. It also did not play on my car CD or an old CD player I had. Perhaps it was not a hybrid disk. I seem to recall that the box did say it would not play on conventional players although it was in VERY small print- much smaller thanwhat you usually see for SACD. Also it was sold in the redbook section of the store, not the SACD/DVD-A section.

 

[20to20K]

Sorry but it wouldn't play at all. It also did not play on my car CD or an old CD player I had. Perhaps it was not a hybrid disk. I seem to recall that the box did say it would not play on conventional players although it was in VERY small print- much smaller thanwhat you usually see for SACD. Also it was sold in the redbook section of the store, not the SACD/DVD-A section.

It's the first time I've ever heard of a HDCD only disk...I'm not ruling it out...but I wouldn't completely dismiss the possiblity that this is a completely different thing altogether. If it's convenient for you...and perhaps have an interest, take it by an audio shop that sells HDCD players and see if it works on their player. "Pretend" like you may be interested in getting one and you want to hear how one sounds.

When you're done experimenting, bring it back to the CD shop you bought it from. If the thing doesn't play on redbook players and you bought it in the redbook section they should give you a full refund...NQA.

 

[MarieonCape]

Two replies for the price of one!

Re: "Sorry but it wouldn't play at all. It also did not play on my car CD or an old CD player I had. Perhaps it was not a hybrid disk. I seem to recall that the box did say it would not play on conventional players although it was in VERY small print"

That is odd. From everything I've read (www.hdcd.com) HDCD encoded discs are supposed to playable on any CD player. That message is common on SACD discs, but I haven't seen it on a HDCD encoded disc before. Can you find the cover and take a look again?

Re: "Unless you have an HDCD decoder on your player... ....Usually only hi-end CD players have HDCD decoding on them"

Another way to decode is not at the player but at the receiver. My Denon DVD-2200 player does not decode HDCD, but my Denon AVR-3805 does. If i place a HDCD disc in my player and use the digital input as the source the "HDCD" light on the 3805's display does light up indicating the presence of the HDCD coding and subsequent decoding by the receiver. If I switch between the digital source and the anolog source from the 2200 I can hear a subtle, but it is there difference. The HDCD sound is more "open" and "spacious" and sounds more "natural" to me.

Re: "Can i buy multi channel SACS's? I have my player set to 2 channel for the few dvds I play so would this work for the SACDs or would I be missing stuff?"

99.5% sure the answer is yes (assuming you have player that will read SACDs). I haven't seen a mult-channel SACD that didn't have a SACD stereo program on it as well. I would think Sony would require that to be backward compatible. In any case the stereo and multi-channel programs on a disc are seperate programs, so the stereo version is the "full" soundtrack, not just the Front L&R channels.

Now - "for the few dvds I play" confuses me since we are talking SACDs. My player has a Super Audio Set Up feature in the menu which tells which type of program to default to, in your case you could set that to Stero rather than Multi.

Marie

 

[Dan]

"That is odd. From everything I've read (www.hdcd.com) HDCD encoded discs are supposed to playable on any CD player. That message is common on SACD discs, but I haven't seen it on a HDCD encoded disc before. Can you find the cover and take a look again?"

Sorry Marie but I exchanged the disk for another CD. I don't recall weather I was using the D/A of my Denon or my pre/pro but I recall it wouldn't play at all. It also wouldn't play at all in my car.

 

[steely]

WOW. Thanks, I finally solved the mistery. I've been hooking up my new Denon thinking there was something wrong with the setup options. I too must have bought the stereo version. SACD in stereo. How misleading. Now I know what to look for.