Are you telling me that SACD L/R is better than Optical?

[OkoPeeKee]

I must be missing something here. I purchased my first SACD, Pink Floyd-Dark Side of the Moon Hybrid. Don't get me wrong, the multi-channel is great and the mix is fantastic. But when you compare the stereo version played via analog RCA left and right vs. the optical cable there is no comparison. Optical blows it out of the water. So a question to all of you audiophiles... How is a Stereo SACD hooked up via analog RCA cables (with no sub I might add) supposed to sound better a digital optical cable? Is there something that I am not doing correctly because like I stated above, the analog stereo version sounds like crap compared to when I swap it over to the optical input (with the sub i might add).

Thanks.

[bhampton]

To understand what you're getting you have to mention what you're using to play it with.

Are you using a PS3?

How are you hearing the multi-channel mix? Via HDMI? You can't get it through the optical cable.

Optical should only be able to play the stereo CD layer no matter what you are using.

The PS3 will let you play the stereo SACD layer though the RCA connectors but it will be doing digital to analog conversion with it's cheap DAC's. It may be better to check out the stereo SACD track with the HDMI connection to keep things digital till they get to the perhaps better DAC's in your AVR.

-Brian

[bhampton]

Just because you use the RCA stereo output ... that doesn't mean you shouldn't be getting output from your Sub. That has more to do with how your AV Reciever or Sound processor is setup.

-Brian

[OkoPeeKee]

Originally Posted by bhampton

To understand what you're getting you have to mention what you're using to play it with.

I have a Sony SACD Player with multi-channel outputs.

[bhampton]

Ok,

I have one of those too (NC-650V). It does a good job but I prefer the PS3 so the NC-650v sits in storage as a spare if ever needed. Stand alone players can be confusing regarding which track on the SACD you are really hearing. The PS3 shows all three tracks and you can choose directly.

Like I said,.. just because you use the RCA outputs (or analog outputs) doesn't mean you should not be getting a signal from your sub. That comes down to how you setup your sound processor, which could be the main reason the SACD stereo layer sounds inferior to you. (Actually bass management setting of the SACD player can also be a factor.)

Also,.. you don't get SACD tracks through the optical cable,.. only the CD layer. So you can't directly compare the SACD stereo track to anything via the optical cable really.

From reviews I've read the stereo CD layer was mixed with extra volume and sounds great on the SACD. Honestly,.. I've only every listened to the multi-channel mix since it's there and it's the highest quality way to listen to the material.

[OkoPeeKee]

Originally Posted by bhampton

Ok,

I've only every listened to the multi-channel mix since it's there and it's the highest quality way to listen to the material.

What about the SACD's that are strictly stereo? Should these be listened to via RCA or optical or HDMI?

[bhampton]

Well,

Analog output or HDMI should be capable of the best reproduction of those Stereo SACDs but there's lots of things that factor in. The optical connection will never give you SACD sound. If you can play the SACD layer through the optical connection it's been downsampled.

Digital to Analog conversion has to happen somewhere along the line. You will have DAC's in whatever has the RCA connectors on it and you will have DACs in your sound processor.

If you have a quality SACD player with good DAC's and use high quality interconnects you should get great sound from the analog output.

-Brian

EDIT- just a disclamer at the point... Lots of people know a lot more about SACD's then I do. I'm not a SACD expert but I read a bit about it here and there. There is a great guide to SACD in this forum.

[DShaffer3]

Single layer SACD's look plain silver, multi layers look goldish. Hybrid SA-CDs can be played as CDs on all consoles that support ‘Red Book’ audio CD. The high-density layer will only play on a PlayStation 3. The output is just stereo via the analog AV out. The SPDIF output is silent during SA-CD playback. On the Ps3 Multichannel audio is available only via HDMI however the signal is not DSD but high-resolution PCM: 24-bit at 176.4, 88.2 or 44.1 kHz (configurable as of firmware version 1.90).
Dolby Digital and DTS were developed for movie sound effects and are perfectly tailored for that but less suited for high-fidelity music reproduction. Both apply lossy compression (much like MP3 does), whereas the DSD signal used on SA-CD does not. A lossless compression scheme called Meridian Lossless Packing (MLP) exists for DTS but this cannot be used with the DVD-Video format, only with DVD-Audio.
Of course, on DVD it's possible to use uncompressed PCM, even in high resolution up to 24 bit at 96 kHz, but DVD-Video only supports stereo PCM. Multichannel PCM is limited to the DVD-Audio format.