New SACD Player

[Al ears]

I am about to order the Audio Fidelity version. Will post whenever I get to hear it.

 

[highfell]

Which version of Close to the Edge is it? The Bill Inglot remaster with the additional tracks, the previous remaster (I think by Joe Gastwirt which is also pretty good) or one of the Barry Diament masters - my version is the one made in Japan for the US market and is the Diament master. The new version is the Audio Fidelity by Kevin Gray and Steve Hoffman, so I'll be interested to hear how that goes.

I have the the Rhino remastered version, which i think is the Bill Inglot one, and the more recent SHM editions and then saw the newSACD edition that has just been remastered by Audio Fidelity. It is on the back of this release that I have purchased the Sony - making the CD effectively a £170 spend !!!

But CTTE is my favourite CD of all time from my favourite band of all time.

To digress for a second, it was when I was flying home to Aftica in the School holidays in the early 70s that courtesy of my elder brother , I listened to CTTE playing over & over on the Plane's audio system on the 8 hour flight and my love of Yes started. The rest is history ...

If you have the Yes Album, Starship Trooper is the standout track to go for. The deep bass at the start of the track is a winner.

I do indeed. It's one of their great songs and a good one to hear the difference between the two CD players. I just hope that the Sony sounds beter that than my 20 year old Marantz. If not i will be a little cheesed off and my folly over buying a new SACD player will have been complete.

Nigel

 

[BigH]

Where are you ordering that from? Is that the same as the MoFi one? If ordering from the USA how much is the postage and any tax to pay?

 

[highfell]

Where are you ordering that from? Is that the same as the MoFi one? If ordering from the USA how much is the postage and any tax to pay?

Both the SACD player & CTTE are from Amazon UK. I can't help you as regards postage but I think you can go online & check

Nigel

 

[BigH]

Sorry my question was about the Yes Album.

 

[the record spot]

Nope, not MoFi, this is Audio Fidelity, same sort of idea, but different company. MoFi do have SACDs too and those ones are generally expensive through the resellers. The latest Audio Fidelity releases also include Rush Counterparts, but to be honest, if you don't want to spend the cash, get the Matsushita Close To The Edge they did for Atlantic. This is the Diament master I referred to earlier. Pop over to the Hoffman forum and you'll get the info on there. I got mine for pennies off Ebay I think and it's excellent.

 

[Singslinger]

Apologies for digressing from the original topic but I just want to add that IMO the new Yes album Fly From Here is excellent...

 

[BigH]

I was into Yes about 40 years ago, Fragile and CTTE but no longer listen to them.

As for MoFi and Audio Fidelity, are they not the same remasters, heard they were both done by Steve Huffman, also read MoFi had gone bankrupt and AF were now issuing the cds. Anyway they all seem to be the same price around about $29 or less. They seem to be hybrid sacds as well. Will be interested to see which sounds the best, cheap sacd player or a cd player like Marantz 52. I might do a test with my Marantz 63Se v a Blu-Ray dvd.

 

[BigH]

For YES fans HDTracks have some of their albums available as 24bit downloads from about $18.

 

[the record spot]

Unless they've changed policy, HDTracks is only available to customers in the US and not the UK.

 

[BigH]

Unless they've changed policy, HDTracks is only available to customers in the US and not the UK.

Some albums are not available it depends on the record label, if not available it comes up with a warning saying not available in your territory. The Yes and The Doors seem OK for UK res.

 

[crumpet]

I'd go for a second-hand Marantz SA8003 or the newer SA8004 - both brilliant machines. I think they sell new for around $700 to $1000 ... so should easily be available second hand for around 300 pounds.

Also, as you have already noted yourself, I'd avoid the universal players, as they are often of variable quality, and usually do not do pure DSD -> analog D/A conversion, but usually do a DSD -> PCM -> analog thingy that is not of the same quality.

 

[crumpet]

I would not bother with SACD players, you are better off streaming downloads. By the way blu-ray dvd players play sacds. SACDs never really took off and I think will die out fairly soon as more people switch to downloads. Also what SACDs that are available are very expensive, typically 4-5x the normal price. Even HDTracks downloads are only about $18.

What a funny post. First, no-one streams hi-rez downloads at the present time ... streams are usually appallingly low -quality MP3s. Second, there are high-res download sites available, but they are expensive and you can usually buy the real SACD for less. I usually pay about $10 for most new SACDs that I buy. Third, the downloads have no resale value, which means your money is totally lost if it's a stinker, or you just don't like it. By contrast, there is a healthy second-hand market in SACDs on ebay and Amazon etc. Fourth, even today, many hi-rez files are downsampled from the DSD track on the SACD to PCM where they are uploaded to web sites for downloading which is a real quality issue if the original recording was a pure DSD recording: better off with the original DSD SACD in those circumstances.

I would agree that the mainstream market for downloads is looking like last year's fashion, and likely to be replaced by streaming in the next few years, though it may take another decade or so before the downloads market gets taken over by hi-res streams.

 

[highfell]

Thank you to all for your advice. I have now had a chance to compare the Sony to the Marantz and to listen to the Close to the Edge SACD and a few others that I have now purchased.

The Sony seems to be brighter and provide greater clarity than the Marantz which has a deeper warmer sound. Maybe that is because the Sony hasn't been burn"t in yet whereas the Marantz is fifteen or so years old.

As regards the new Yes SACD, I have to say that it sounds really good. I compared it to Barry Diaments version, which itself sounded warm and friendly, but a bit muddy in comparison.

On the AF version there is a difference & improvement in terms of clarity, separation & crispness of the various instruments. I would notice things on the SACD that I didn't on the other. The music sprang out at me more but then there seems more depth as well. It is 'sharper' all round.

As an example, in the beginning of the CTTE track, instead of a more general cacophony of bird noise, the birds' noises were more distinct, clearer and come out of the speakers with a greater 3D image, as well as a wider one. If you did imagine it was really was a flock of birds flying towards you then it seemed that they were were more of them and a wider spread somehow.Pink Floyd's DSOTM SACD sounds really good, beautifully remastered and clear. So all in all, I am very pleased with my new SACD player, albeit it is a budget one.

 

[BigH]

Thanks for the update.

I would be interested to know how this Sony sacd player compares with a similar priced Sony Blu-Ray player for sound quality, I read several views that Blu-Ray players are just as good and of course have more functions, same for PS3 players.

 

[the record spot]

Thanks for the update.

I would be interested to know how this Sony sacd player compares with a similar priced Sony Blu-Ray player for sound quality, I read several views that Blu-Ray players are just as good and of course have more functions, same for PS3 players.

You won't get SACD on any Sony PS3s except for the first generation ones that came out in the USA. Don't think any were released in this UK with SACD onboard. Sound-wise the PS3 is pretty good, though it is merely a transport in my own system and I never play CDs on it. I do have a Music Unlimited account that's got a year on it to go, and it's pretty decent. Interface not so great, but sound is good.

 

[BigH]

Thanks for the update.

I would be interested to know how this Sony sacd player compares with a similar priced Sony Blu-Ray player for sound quality, I read several views that Blu-Ray players are just as good and of course have more functions, same for PS3 players.

You won't get SACD on any Sony PS3s except for the first generation ones that came out in the USA. Don't think any were released in this UK with SACD onboard. Sound-wise the PS3 is pretty good, though it is merely a transport in my own system and I never play CDs on it. I do have a Music Unlimited account that's got a year on it to go, and it's pretty decent. Interface not so great, but sound is good.

Thanks for that but I have read that PS3 supports sacd. OK it seems only the 60GB premium version has sacd. Looks like I will be getting a Blu-Ray dvd then.

I will have a dac so yes it will be for transport only.

 

[BigH]

Still having a problem finding sacd of music I want, most are just so expensive like Aja Steely Dan is £50, WIsh You Were Here is £25, Who's Next £48, Kind of Blue £113, yes you can get Sting and Dire Straits cheap. Most of the music I buy is not on sacd. There is a Bob Marley but over £500.

 

[TnA200]

Congratulations on your purchase.

I have a Sony SCD-XE597 SACD Player and it was also bought at the budget end of the spectrum as my foray into SACD and I must say I'm enjoying it. As some of the other posters have said, I too look at all the classic and well priced Hybrid-SACD's on Amazon and pick up good deals when I see them. Elton John ***** Chateau for £5 was nice, DSOM, was a great buy too, War of the Worlds in 5.1 is fab!

So perhaps not breaking any high-end barriers, but really good enough to enjoy SACD and a starting point. I must say it also plays redbook regular cd's very well too, they sound better than I've ever heard them!

Anyway, enjoy!

Regards, TnA200

 

[Chippy_boy]

We bought a Sony BDP-S590 to replace an ageing Pioneer universal player. The main reason being that it doesn't have HDMI out to connect to our new television.

Since we also want to be able to watch Bluray discs, we decided to get a Sony player which comes with SACD support. We have about 50 SACD, mainly classical, hybrid discs. We don't have a multichannel system, so it doesn't bother us that the Sony only has RCA stereo out for connecting to our stereo receiver.

Since we also have a DAC Magic, the Sony is connected to that to upsample Redbook CDs and regular DVDs.

I hate to tell you this mate, but if you have the BDP-S590 connected to the DAC Magic via a digital connection, you haven't been listening to SACD all this time, you've been listening to the CD layer on the SACD disk.

No wonder it sounds as good as the Pioneer. The DAC Magic has been producing the sound in both cases.

 

[crumpet]

Still having a problem finding sacd of music I want, ... Kind of Blue £113, ...

There have been 3 releases of Kind of Blue on SACD. The hybrid CD/SACD release sold out and is very expensive now (the £113 you refer to). But you can buy the latest new single-layer pure SACD release for about £22 from Amazon UK (search for item B000VOON7G) which appears to be the most highly regarded (Japanese pressing) ... or ... for even less ... about US$25 + shipping ... from Amazon Japan (search for the same item B000VOON7G or the earlier release B00005GA0L).

Now you've tempted me ... I might buy a copy! :roll: