I am wanting to try SACD so what player would fit the bill?

[admin_exported]

Hi all, first post here for me.

I am wanting to upgrade my system as it must be 10yr old by now but has gave years of pleasure. I have been a bit dissapointed with some of the remastered classic rock CD's over the years (too much compression IMHO), so was thinking of trying either a SACD player or an upscalling player.

Would a upscalling source bring out more music from my standard CD's or are SACD's better ?

I have £450 to play with, but if you think there is something special just above budget that I should be considering, then let me know.

Please any advise or recommendations would be appreciated.

The system I have is as follows: Sony CD XB930, NAD C340 amp, Denon Tunner, B&W 602's, Sennheiser HD650+Homemade amp.

 

[RodhasGibson]

DanKurt:

Hi all, first post here for me.

I am wanting to upgrade my system as it must be 10yr old by now but has gave years of pleasure. I have been a bit dissapointed with some of the remastered classic rock CD's over the years (too much compression IMHO), so was thinking of trying either a SACD player or an upscalling player.

Would a upscalling source bring out more music from my standard CD's or are SACD's better ?

I have £450 to play with, but if you think there is something special just above budget that I should be considering, then let me know.

Please any advise or recommendations would be appreciated.

The system I have is as follows: Sony CD XB930, NAD C340 amp, Denon Tunner, B&W 602's, Sennheiser HD650+Homemade amp.

Andrew get in quick otherwise you know who Will come along

To Poster welcome to the forum, what type of universal player do you envisage getting Dvd or CD or Blu-Ray.

 

[Anonymous]

It would be CD format as I only listen to music in the study.

Cheers

 

[pete321]

RodhasGibson:Andrew get in quick otherwise you know who Will come along

Or, it might be me! But as you you suggested, I'll leave it to Andrew as he uses an Oppo for SACD's.

 

[pete321]

DanKurt:

It would be CD format as I only listen to music in the study.

Given the discussion in this thread, it may be wise to consider a player which has Blu-Ray ability even if you don't want it for video purposes. There are likely to be more arriving soon other than the one I'm not allowed to talk about anymore. As WHF have reported yesterday, Cambridge Audio are due to release a BD/SACD player in the US soon.

 

[Anonymous]

I read the link and though interesting, multi channel music has always sounded wrong to me. Maybe I am a bit old fashioned but music projected in stereo has always seemed as close to going to a gig as it could be.

I have heard a couple of multi channel SACD's on a surround system and
to be honest, they sounded more of an audio experience rather than a
musical experience.

Most of the music I listen to was produced in 2ch and thus meant to be played on a 2ch system.

Anyway getting back to the point, does anyone have any experiance with SACD and upsampling CD player's, how do they compare and what players should I be looking at in the £450 - £500 range?

.

 

[Andrew Everard]

I'd suggest the Marantz SA7001, which you can find for about £350.

 

[pete321]

On the subject of disc quality, you might want to consider getting hold of a few XRCD's, developed by JVC. Don't know if you've heard of them, unfortunatley they're a bit thin on the ground and there haven't been too many mainstream releases. They'll play on any CD player and the few I've got sound incredible, they show what can be achievd from a plain old CD! They're not quite SACD quality, but in my experience of them, they sound better than HDCD's.

 

[the record spot]

Andrew Everard:I'd suggest the Marantz SA7001, which you can find for about £350.

Good call! Personal bias aside, the 7001 does a fine job with both CD and SACD - a bit of an underrated classic IMO. Makes for a very good listen with all kinds of music and dredges up a stack of detail from discs - currently hearing stuff on a first CD pressing of Led Zep 2 (Barry Diament mastering) I'd never really picked up on before.

With the wrong kit, this player sounds lean, so if you're partnering gear is of that ilk, you might want to have a think, but if your amp/speakers pack a bit of weight, you'll be fine with this fine player. Might even get an end-of-line KI version for not much more money.

 

[unfocused]

DanKurt: Would a upscalling source bring out more music from my standard CD's or are SACD's better ?

I'm a bit confused with you post. Upscaling DVD players contain a scaler, which allows the user to convert lower resolution content into a signal that the display device will handle as high definition content

SACD players do not upscale standard CD's - they play them at the same resolution as a regular CD player. If you are not into classical music I would pretty much not bother with SACD. And this is coming from someone who is speaking as a big fan of the format. There hasn't been any decent rock releases from mainstream record companies for a couple of years. Mobile Fidelity is putting out some titles and there are a few other audiophile companies but they don't get released in the UK so importing titles from the US is pretty much you're only option.

 

[the record spot]

Have to disagree with that if you're discounting on that option only; I've picked up plenty of SACD titles, all it takes is seeking them out and doing a little more legwork. Easy to do on Ebay ("SACD" in the Music-CD category!), you often find them in used record shops too and of course there are still some coming out here and there.

Big fan of the format too and it's worth pointing out there's around 5,000 titles out there. A lot of classical yes, but don't write off any player with SACD functionality if you don't end up going down the hi-res route that way - Pioneer, Marantz, Onkyo all offer solid players in your price bracket and are well worth auditioning.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Dan,

Welcome to the Forum. I've found it an invaluable source of information and opinion over the last year or so. If you mean an upsampling CD Player, then yes, it will dig up extra detail and clarity (in my humble opinion), and a used Arcam 192 won't be far out of your budget, and will be a good match for your B&Ws. Regarding SACD, I don't know as I don't have such a player.

What are your listening preferences, and is there a significant SACD catalogue in your taste?

As always, demo if you can.

Good luck, and let us know what you choose.

All the best,

Shuggie

 

[pete321]

Unfortuantely if you limit yourself to a CD/SACD player only, you're discounting DVD-Audio. There were a number of mainstream releases on DVD-A, one of the best being the 96kHz/24bit mix (stereo & 5.1) of Rumours by Fleetwood Mac. Trouble is you need some sort of monitor/tv connection to navigate the menus and it sounds like that's not an option for you.

Due to the lack of mainstream high fidelity releases in either format, limiting yourself to one or the other (unless you like jazz & classical) is probably not the best idea. A mutli format player will give you the biggest choice of mainstream material.