[kingdaddy]

I jumped on the SACD DVD-A bandwagon early on, but was very disappointed due to the bass management problems so I sold everything and thought I would never waste my time on this again, that burn was to the tune of about $400 after selling everything.

However recently I got a new preamp processor that has analog pass thru connections, so I thought I would give SACD another try.  My old setup was a Sony TA-E9000ES and the TA-P companion preamp for multi-channel analog audio.  The new Pre/Pro (Halo C2) has a function called e-bass which allows full output to the sub when the fronts are set to large, this feature has almost completely solved the bass problem, so now I’m able to properly enjoy SACD recordings.  I bought the Sony DVP-CX777ES DVD/SACD Changer and have it interfaced to my computer via the RS232 connection.  I have to say this has been the biggest change in my listening habits and enjoyment to date, I can listen to all my SACD and DTS 5.1 audio collection with the click of a mouse, and I am truly enjoying these new formats the way I always hoped to.

I still have some issues with SACD, but solving the bass redirection issue has left only a few small quirks, the biggest being the engineering and mixing of these discs, which is out of my control, so I try not to dwell on it too much.  However I am starting to see a pattern the more I buy.  It seems that only 1 in 4 SACD’s and about half of the DTS discs I buy have a really pleasing sound, the rest are either so-so or down right terrible.  I recently bought The Police “Every Breath you Take” SACD and I was very disappointed to find that they remixed the sound and tempo of my favorite song De Do Do Do, De da da Da, this completely killed the mood of this song, what were they thinking?!  I have the CD version and it did not change this song, there was some remixes of other songs but this one was the original song so I thought I was safe in assuming that the SACD version would be the same as the remixed CD except for the extra channels.  How can they do this, it should have a big RED FLAG on the front cover that says WARNING we changed the songs so they don’t even resemble what you once loved about them!  Why not just add the remixed version at the end like they did with Message and leave the original alone?  Well enough about that, I have noticed that my MC SACD’s sound much better then 2-ch when I’m walking around the house, so this new setup is great for all day casual listening.  I just start at the beginning of my collection and the changer will play each one in a row since I have them all grouped together, this is great, now if I could just find some more worth buying.

I’m still of the opinion that the recording quality is what makes these new Hi-Rez formats better, not the playback hardware.  Some of my DTS 5.1 audio discs sound just as wonderful as the MC SACD’s, and some of the SACD’s sound worse then the original CD.  On my original setup I could bypass the analog section (on 2-ch SACD) and pass the signal thru the processor and instantly compare the PCM converted sound to the pure DSD unprocessed version, absolutely no difference in sound quality, exactly the same.  


Conclusion:
Newer recordings with newer equipment (with some exceptions) just sound better then old ones, don’t think that DSD has anything to do with it, but Multi channel is indeed a step up, IMO.


Here is a screen shot of my DVD Lobby SACD collection that controls the changer.
http://forums.audioreview.com/showthread.php?t=4922

[Rob Babcock]

I was pretty bummed out by that Police disc, too.  My sister has the DTS version, and on that one they screw up "Don't Stand So Close To Me" instead.     The slowed down version of "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" is nasty.

But there are a lot of good discs out there.  You might want to try the DVD-A versions of Flaming Lips "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" & Beck's "Sea Change" are excellent; I've got about 50 good hi rez discs.

I think DVD-A (& SACD) sound better than DTS by a wide margin, but I agree that when done right it may be more the MC aspect than the hi rez aspecet that offers the most improvement.  I much prefer, for instance, the DTD disc of Stings "Ten Summoners Tales" to the CD.

[kingdaddy]

I only buy the DVD-A discs that have a DTS 5.1 track as my Sony will not play the Hi-Rez DVD-A track, only DTS and SACD.  But if the Flaming Lips disc has a DTS track I will buy it.

[Rob Babcock]

Sorry, I wasn't paying enough atttention- I realize Sony doesn't make a machine that plays DVD-A.    The Beck disc is available on SACD, although I can't remember of the 'Lips disc has DTS (probably not).

[BikeWNC]

The Flaming Lips album I have is a 2 disc set with DVD on one and CD on the other.  The DVD disc is DVD-A HiRes 5.1 and 2 channel, DD 5.1 and video.

What bugs me about the DVD-A format is the need (almost) for a monitor to navigate the menu.  As I only listen to 2 channel, the fact that this format defaults to 5.1 is a PITA since there is no way to override it to select stereo HiRes on startup.

Andy

[Rob Babcock]

What player are you using, Tsunami?  I have a Denon and I never need a monitor- you just have to push "play."  Only a very few of my discs need the monitor on, and those are all older ones from the first gen of releases.

Denon (and several others I've used) allow you to set the default on screen once, and retain that setting for all discs unless you spec otherwise.  You might want to nose around in the menus & see if you can do this.

[BikeWNC]

I have a Denon 2900.  I didn't see in the manual any info to change the startup of DVD-A discs to 2 channel HiRes.  I know how to do it for SACD.  The only time I had a TV hooked up to the player was when I first got it to turn off the digital out and set the pure mode options.  I may need to look through all the menu options again.  I'm not using the video at this time.

Andy