Just joined the SACD camp - need a little help

george king · « **on:** 14 Jan 2003, 08:23 pm »

I was out running errands at lunch, and decided to stop in at BB for a guilty pleasure (Lake Placid for $9 - so sue me) and there was a Sony SCD-CE775 just sitting there. I offered the manager $100 (no manual or remote) and he said yes. So I bought it along with Dylan (for me) and Thriller (for the wife). Cannot wait to hook it up (associated equipment - Yamaha 995 as preamp - Rotel 1075 amp - Kef Q15 monitors for a month, and then GR Research AV-1s).
Between my wife and I our musical tastes are all over the map. So I need some help - what are some good stereo SACD mixes.

Thanks a bunch.

DiNo · « **Reply #1 on:** 14 Jan 2003, 09:10 pm »

Hi George,
One thing that I'll recommend you is to send it to Matthew Anker (www.sacdmods.com) for an upgrade modification. If you're handy with a solder iron, then you can order the mod kits from him like I did. You'll be suprise how this upgrade will improve the sound.

DiNo

george king · « **Reply #2 on:** 14 Jan 2003, 09:30 pm »

Thanks for the tip. I will eventually do this, but with new speakers next month, I do not have the money. Maybe with the tax return.

Any suggestions for great recordings. Genre not that critical, although Jazz, classical and funk/motown would be great.

DiNo · « **Reply #3 on:** 14 Jan 2003, 09:59 pm »

I don't have many SACD titles in my collection yet (no extra $$

) . But for a starter, I would recommend Patricia Barber and Diana Krall. I'm sure others will chime in with their favorites.

JoshK · « **Reply #4 on:** 14 Jan 2003, 10:34 pm »

I recommend staying away from Sony SACD's for the most part (I have a half dozen or so, although Roger Water's In the Flesh is awesome) and looking for hybrid discs in case SACD goes way of beta max. But that is another issue altogether. I really like Telarc's Stravinsky's Firebird, Telarc's Tchaikovsky 1816.

Wayne1 · « **Reply #5 on:** 14 Jan 2003, 11:13 pm »

The Stevie Ray Vaughan SACD "Couldn't Stand The Weather" was what convinced me to buy a SACD player.

Mondo Head by KODO is just amazing. Dynamics like you have never heard before.

I bought all five of the remastered Creedance Clearwater Revival SACD's.
While they do not sound as good as something mastered today, they are the best CCR you will ever hear

eric the red · « **Reply #6 on:** 14 Jan 2003, 11:15 pm »

Scroll through the last few weeks of posts over at Audio Asylum's Hi-Rez forum as that question has come up a lot lately since the Philips SACD 1000 blow-out. www.half.com has some good prices on SACDs, but make sure that you indeed are getting the SACD and not the redbook disc as sometimes sellers advertise their redbook discs in the SACD ads.

Pez · « **Reply #7 on:** 15 Jan 2003, 03:01 am »

Get Beck's "Sea Changes" I picked my copy up for $15.00. I don't know why but it was actually cheaper than it's redbook counterpart. It's good, but not like Beck's other stuff.

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #8 on:** 15 Jan 2003, 04:29 am »

If you're a Stones fan, all Sony has released all of their albums as SACDs; they aren't even labled as such, you wouldn't know unless you opened one, I guess. I'm a little miffed that "40 Licks" isn't SACD (to the best of my knowledge)- I don't like 'em enough to buy any whole albums.

DK's "The Look of Love" sounds very good, if you like the album (personally I love it).

Joe Satriani's "Engines of Creation" is out for stereo-only SACD- it sounds awesome and is a fantastic album (metal guitar hero instumental stuff w/a bit of techno edge, if you've never heard him.).

randytsuch · « **Reply #9 on:** 15 Jan 2003, 08:02 pm »

Hi George.
Good luck with SACD, I got my first SACD player a little over one year ago, and never regretted it.

I like the smaller labels for SACD's, I think they have better sound quality than the Sony/Columbia stuff.

Things I like include Christy Baron (jazz vocals) on Chesky, Alison Krauss (country/pop) on Rounder records, Eric Bibb (blues) on Opus 3. Opus 3 has some good jazz too, they have a sampler you might want to get. Audioquest has some good blues SACD's. I like my Claire Martin SACD from Linn. I just picked up a Keven Mohogany SACD from Telarc that I like, he covers some old Motown tunes.

Hope this helps, I have a bunch more, but thought this is a start.

Randy

lcrim · « **Reply #10 on:** 5 Feb 2003, 11:25 pm »

Have the same player w/ the mods by SACDMODS.com
Some favorite multichannel SACDs in no particular order:
James Taylor- Hourglass
Junior Wells-Come on in this house
Miles- Kind of Blue
Brubeck-Time Out

I need to listen to Kind of Blue regularly, this is the fourth version I have owned and has the best sound quality. I may have gotten involved in audio as a result of the feelings this piece brings to me.
The other selections aren't too shabby either.
enjoy