SACD Worth IT?

[CliffH]

I have a SONY DVD Player that is a few years old and it is supposed to be able to play SACD's through it's analog 5.1 outputs. My old Pioneer AV receiver did not have these imputs so I never tried AN SACD. I just bought a new Yamaha RXV3900 and Def Tech speakers and it is equiped with 7.1 analog imputs. Are the sacd's worth the extra investment ? Do they generally have surround sound encoded on them? Any info would be appreciated. Do any retail stores carry them or are they just available on-line?


Thanks CliffH

[JohnB]

I would say it depends on a number of factors, for me I've just haven't found it to be worth it. One reason is I simply don't find there to be a wealth of music available in the format that excites me (definitely a personal preference, your taste in music probably differs so you may find plenty of stuff you like). Secondly, I just don't know that I have a system (or maybe it is listening habits) that really allow me to take advantage of the increased resolution.

That being said, I have had "wow" moments with SACD - especially Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, when I put that on with my full surround set-up it really blows me away.

As for finding SACD's, that can be a tough one, just finding a record store these days seems tough enough! But there are good resources online, I've used Acoustic Sounds (I think that is their name) and Amazon to buy the 5 or 6 SACD's that I own and I look out there occasionally to see if there is something new to get. Of course I haven't done that in a while, I vaguely remember the price turning me off a bit, maybe if I spent more time with dedicated listening rather than listening while doing other things I might have great appreciation.

Just my 2 cents based on my own listening habits and equipment. Just as a reference I use an Oppo universal player connected via HDMI to an Integra pre-amp with Arcam amp and Vienna Acoustic speakers, I also live in an apartment so am limited in my ability to really crank things.

I think it would be worth trying to find a disc you like and give it a whirl, you might find those wow moments are much more frequent than they have been for me.


John

[lrciii]

YES! SACD& DVD audio are great!
Unfortunately the masses love their crappy MP3 players, & not many get produced anymore. Best Buy stopped carrying them some time ago.
The few I have I really enjoy.

You may want to save those 7.1 inputs for your blu ray player….

Lee

[gstarr]

"Are the sacd's worth the extra investment ? "

I would look online for places that sell SACD's and DVD-A's. If you find a lot of these discs that you would like to buy then it might make sense for you to get a good universal player like some from OPPO.

That said, I believe SACD and DVD-A are at a dead end. With the advent of Blu Ray and the superior bandwidth and data capacity, I would think that eventually there will be Blu Ray music discs with either pictures or video information. Hopefully one company will dive in and make a commitment, but I doubt the majority of pop music will make it to the format, or even benefit from the format, as most of it is rather disposable. It would be a good format for both classic and other excellent releases if they are properly mastered without all that overblown and overdriven music that is generaly released on CD's.

Greg

[CliffH]

Thanks fore the advice. I will probably buy one and give it a try. Is there any advantage to using the 7.1 inputs for a blu-ray player over the HDMI?

[weitrhino]

You don''t necessarily need 5.1 channel sound to enjoy SACD. You can still run it in 2 channel. You will still gain a great deal of sound quality due to the ultra-high sampling rate offered by SACD and DVD-audio. 5.1 can be cool, but to me this presents a strange soundstage, especially if the recording is live. When do you sit in the middle of a performance?