Hybrid SACD

[VCalegon]

I got my first Hybrid SACD disc the other day, and sure enough my hated Arcam Solo can't tell the difference between that and a beermat. I was thinking of beginning an upgrade with something like a Cyrus CDi plugged in the back of the Arcam, but after a while I decided upgrades are for fools (that's another discussion) - I'd rather downgrade. So I want a cheap and cheerful CD player that will play anything you stick in it, including a beermat. According to this month's What HiFi, the Marantz CD6005 is good. But the first review I read on Amazon says the Marantz is fussy about what discs it plays, so to hell with it!

I thought NAD might fit the bill, but What HiFi doesn't give them much space. I'll almost certainly take the SACD and one that I've burnt to Richer Sounds and play them, but your thoughts prior to that would be appreciated. Do not recommend the Arcam CD/SACD player or I will have a fit!

 

[The_Lhc]

Why are you buying SACDs if you don't want an SACD player to play them on? Wouldn't you be better off just buying CDs instead?

 

[Covenanter]

A hybrid SACD should play on anything as the CD layer should be recognised just as if it were a standard CD. I've heard that Marantz can be picky about CDs but I never had a problem with my old CD6004.

Chris

 

[Al ears]

Why are you buying SACDs if you don't want an SACD player to play them on? Wouldn't you be better off just buying CDs instead?

I was thinking that. What's the point of paying good money on a SACD when it is quite obvious the Arcam will never play that layer.

A cheap CD player that will play anything is not available AFAIAA, universal disc players are not cheap.

Suggest, if you really want a SACD player the OP looks at the Pioneer PD10, yours for £159. Will also play MP3 and anything burnt to CD-RW.

 

[chebby]

I bought a bunch of classic performances from the old 'Living Stereo' label on hybrid CD/SACD in 2013 and they played fine on my old Marantz M-CR603.

I only played them once before ripping and storing the disks but they worked.

 

[VCalegon]

The reason for buying the SACD was twofold - a) it was second-hand and I didn't know it was an SACD (and I didn't know what one of those was anyway, AND I wouldn't have known it wouldn't play on the Solo anyway), b) SACDs do, in theory, play on any CD player.

(I used to have one of those Yamaha £130-plus-speakers minis. That did play beermats. I loved it. The Arcam was a big mistake)

Actually, now that someone has mentioned mp3s, I will have to take those into consideration.

 

[The_Lhc]

b) SACDs do, in theory, play on any CD player.

Only dual-layer discs, purely SACD discs will NOT play on a CD player.

 

[Al ears]

b) SACDs do, in theory, play on any CD player.

Only dual-layer discs, purely SACD discs will NOT play on a CD player.

To be fair he did post hybrid SACD.

I have no idea why the CD layer of this would not play on his Arcam though.

 

[expat_mike]

I will get my Arcam solo neo out of storage upstairs, and see if it also has trouble reading hybrid SACDs.

I only have a couple of such hybrid discs, but I am contemplating getting one or two more for christmas. One golden rule that i am applying is that the SACD price must now be only a few euros (so i am not paying a stupid premium), and that music forum reviews indicate that the SACD has been well mastered. I am not interested in paying silly prices for any hi definition SACDs which are just upscaled versions of a low dynamic range CD original.

 

[Al ears]

I will get my Arcam solo neo out of storage upstairs, and see if it also has trouble reading hybrid SACDs.

I only have a couple of such hybrid discs, but I am contemplating getting one or two more for christmas. One golden rule that i am applying is that the SACD price must now be only a few euros (so i am not paying a stupid premium), and that music forum reviews indicate that the SACD has been well mastered. I am not interested in paying silly prices for any hi definition SACDs which are just upscaled versions of a low dynamic range CD original.

That will be interesting. There should be no reason any CD player should not play the CD layer of a hybrid SACD disc as it should just appear to be a CD.

Just about all of my SACD's are noticeably different to the CD's that I own.

It's a bit like an LP pressed at 33.3 rpm compared to the same pressed at 45 rpm.

The same cannot be said of some blue-ray audio discs that I purchased as an experiment.

 

[expat_mike]

As promised I have just set up the Solo neo, and tried playing one CD and two SACD hybrid discs. I can report the following:

works ok (if this had failed I would be in trouble) - http://www.amazon.fr/Call-Search-Deluxe-Katie-Melua/dp/B0002Z9YWS

works ok - http://www.amazon.fr/Look-Love-Format-SACD-hybride/dp/B00006L6YH

works ok - http://www.amazon.fr/Jazz-Side-Moon-Hybrid-Mehrkanal/dp/B0012IWIMW

Does your CD drive play normal CDs ok.

 

[Al ears]

As promised I have just set up the Solo neo, and tried playing one CD and two SACD hybrid discs. I can report the following:

works ok (if this had failed I would be in trouble) - http://www.amazon.fr/Call-Search-Deluxe-Katie-Melua/dp/B0002Z9YWS

works ok - http://www.amazon.fr/Look-Love-Format-SACD-hybride/dp/B00006L6YH

works ok - http://www.amazon.fr/Jazz-Side-Moon-Hybrid-Mehrkanal/dp/B0012IWIMW

Does your CD drive play normal CDs ok.

Well done for going through with that fault-finding experiment. Bears out what I thought.

There is a very slight possibility that the OPs hybrid sacd is, in fact, a pure SACD disc but this is highly unlikely.

This leaves us with the question you asked. Is the Arcam inherently faulty. Or yet another, is there a different between the Solo and a Solo Neo?

 

[expat_mike]

I have checked the Arcam discontinued products pages/

Solo music - 2004, could read CD text, CD-R and CDRW

Solo neo could read the same

Solo movie 2.1 - 2004, could read SACD

Solo movie 5.1 could read SACD

Based on that the OPs neo should read the same type of CDs as my neo, so I conclude either his neo is not working correctly, or maybe he does have some strange SACD hybrid disc.

 

[Al ears]

I have checked the Arcam discontinued products pages/

Solo music - 2004, could read CD text, CD-R and CDRW

Solo neo could read the same

Solo movie 2.1 - 2004, could read SACD

Solo movie 5.1 could read SACD

Based on that the OPs neo should read the same type of CDs as my neo, so I conclude either his neo is not working correctly, or maybe he does have some strange SACD hybrid disc.

I'd agree. The fact he used the word hybrid means it has got a CD layer so suspected machine is faulty

 

[VCalegon]

I have checked the Arcam discontinued products pages/

Solo music - 2004, could read CD text, CD-R and CDRW

Solo neo could read the same

Solo movie 2.1 - 2004, could read SACD

Solo movie 5.1 could read SACD

Based on that the OPs neo should read the same type of CDs as my neo, so I conclude either his neo is not working correctly, or maybe he does have some strange SACD hybrid disc.

I'd agree. The fact he used the word hybrid means it has got a CD layer so suspected machine is faulty

My machine is the basic Solo music. It plays CDs OK. But it never played anything that I burnt. It went back to the factory once. They said they "found something unrelated that was wrong and corrected it" (I felt that it was unprofessional of them not to tell me what), but no change was noticeable to me.

Well, that's the end of that story - now I'm going to buy a cheap and cheerful uncomplaining CD player to plug in the back, followed by a bass bin and bookshelf speakers, followed by an amp when they phase out DAB, and maybe followed last of all by a good CD player.

Or......I've got a friend who thinks I should rip all of my CDs and convert them to mp3s and ditch the lot for an mp3 player/docking system. That's another discussion, isn't it.

 

[Al ears]

The Pioneer PD10 is pretty good, £159 from Richersounds, and it plays SACD's