SACDs

[Pondosinatra]

Originally Posted by Lyle_JP

The escalating cost is just a matter of economy of scale. SACDs hybrids are no longer sold alongside or mixed in with regular CDs or stocked in great numbers at music stores (which are, themselves, a thing of the past). The pressing runs are very small, so the per unit cost must be much higher to make a run worth it. Also, the target market is the audiophile niche, who tend to spend far more on equipment and software than the average music buyer.

I don't think it's a matter of the format. No one is buying physical media anymore period.

I went into a HMV (most popular music store in Canada) last week - not having been in one for several years. Whereas before it'd be row after row of CD's - now it's row after row of movies, and literally just a couple rows for music now.

Sad really.

[darkpoet25]

I have a Fry's near me and I see they still stock not only SACD's but also DVD-A's. Sadly it's true about people not buying physical CD's as much anymore. I usually will download a song I want on iTunes, but if it's a band I'm really into or want the deluxe/special edition of a CD I will buy it. I work for a Wal Mart in Fishers, IN and our CD section is now only half of what it once was. Luckily we still have some stalwart local shops that are still around.

[Trekkie313]

Are there SACD's of The Keep or Thief soundtracks?

[darkpoet25]

Originally Posted by Trekkie313

Are there SACD's of The Keep or Thief soundtracks?

You can always try looking them up on http://www.musicdirect.com. They have a fairly nice selection of music as well as equipment.

[Clark Kent]

Originally Posted by Trekkie313

Are there SACD's of The Keep or Thief soundtracks?

No, I don't believe so. But there are other soundtracks on SACD, from Dances With Wolves to Star Trek. Search here if you want to see if an album has been released on SACD:

http://www.sa-cd.net/home

[Trekkie313]

Originally Posted by darkpoet25

You can always try looking them up on http://www.musicdirect.com. They have a fairly nice selection of music as well as equipment.

Didn't find anything.

[dobyblue]

Originally Posted by Pondosinatra

I don't think it's a matter of the format. No one is buying physical media anymore period.

A lot of business has changed online, CD is still the king of media where retail $'s are concerned with over a billion last year.

It's fading for sure and it's only a matter of time, but people still want tangible ownership of goods in the interim.

[danfaz]

Originally Posted by Pondosinatra

My only question with these releases is that they're all imports from Japan - so obviously not a release from the studio that did the original album.

So are these top quality releases?

This site will answer your question at least for the Universal SHM SACDs:

http://infoshmsacd.client.jp/faq.html

In sum:

"What are "Japan original master tapes"?
Basically they are dub masters so they are one generation down from the original master tapes prepared in US or UK or wherever original recordings were made. The dubs were made when albums were released for the first time back in those days and shipped to Japan and since then they have been in the vaults of UMJ or other music companies in Japan, to which the artists belonged at the time."

[ZoetMB]

Originally Posted by Pondosinatra

My only question with these releases is that they're all imports from Japan - so obviously not a release from the studio that did the original album.

So are these top quality releases? Or are they the sonic equivalent to a cheap-ass blu-ray upconvert release of an 80's movie???

Studios don't release albums, record labels do. And if the masters are digital, it won't matter anyway unless there were substantial bit errors when making the copy, which is unlikely. If it's an older album that was originally recorded analog, the original label will make a digital copy (which they've probably already done anyway) and send a copy of that to Japan. In that case, there could be some quality loss, but there's no choice: no one is letting an analog master out the door and if the recording is from the 1970s-1980s and was recorded on back-coated tape, the original analog tape has probably been destroyed due to shedding issues anyway (and in most cases was transferred to digital long ago.)

It's not the equivalent to an upconvert of an 80s movie (aside from the tape shedding issue) because films chemically deteriorate and for the most part, digital masters do not.

There is a question however as to which master the digital copy is being made from. Is it the original 1st generation stereo mix (which is actually 2nd generation because the original multitrack is the 1st generation)? The vinyl master? The cassette master? A copy of any of the above? Obviously the source should be the 1st generation original stereo mix, assuming they're not doing a remix from the original multitrack (which can never result in a recording that sounds exactly like the original).

[ManUtd]

I finally received my order from cdbanq.com:



I will be ordering more from them.

[danfaz]

Originally Posted by ManUtd

I finally received my order from cdbanq.com:
I will be ordering more from them.

Nice! I got my Hotel CA last week. Very pleased with it!

[frank_t]

Originally Posted by ManUtd

I finally received my order from cdbanq.com:



I will be ordering more from them.

let us know how they sound.

i have Fragile on DVD-A and it's quite nice.

Last SACDs I bought were the entire Genesis collection and all of the Moody Blues I could find.

I also managed to find Sailing to Philadelphia (Mark Knopfler) on DVD-A for about $10. A steal!

[ManUtd]

Originally Posted by frank_t

let us know how they sound.

i have Fragile on DVD-A and it's quite nice.

Last SACDs I bought were the entire Genesis collection and all of the Moody Blues I could find.

I also managed to find Sailing to Philadelphia (Mark Knopfler) on DVD-A for about $10. A steal!

I have both on DVD-A too. From my initial listening, I feel that the DVD-A versions have better clarity and dynamics. I will do some critical listening soon.

[Pondosinatra]

Originally Posted by ManUtd

I finally received my order from cdbanq.com:



I will be ordering more from them.

What's the one on the left?

[ManUtd]

Originally Posted by Pondosinatra

What's the one on the left?

Yes - Fragile

[dobyblue]

I just received my copy of After Midnight from Amazon for $21 this past week-end.

I've already listened to the entire disc twice though. It is simply incredible and I'm very grateful to Hoffman for the glowing recommendation he gave on this particular title without which I probably would have let these discs pass me by.

On the strength of this I've ordered Love is the Thing and Just One of Those Things from Acoustic Sounds, shame Amazon doesn't have more of these titles at the $21 mark.

But yeah, blown away by how incredible this Mono recording sounds on SACD, a moving experience.

[Pondosinatra]

I just picked up a brand new jazz sacd (not hybrid).

But its like it plays at half the volume of all my other SACDs. I have to crank it to get to the level I'm used to listening at.

WTH? I would figure SACD would be all normalized and we wouldn't have any of the loudness wars that came with CDs???

[Jerrin]

Just picked up Dire Straits: Dire Straits (SACD-SHM) and boy does it sound great! Sultans of swing sounds very good, but a standout was Wild West End. The album sounds fantastic! I'm glad I took the plunge and paid too much for this album.

Now if the labels would start releasing albums on Blu-ray Audio in 24 bit 192Khz stereo and 24 bit 96Khz 5.1, I'd really be a poor man.

[Gremal]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

I just received my copy of After Midnight from Amazon for $21 this past week-end.

I've already listened to the entire disc twice though. It is simply incredible and I'm very grateful to Hoffman for the glowing recommendation he gave on this particular title without which I probably would have let these discs pass me by.

On the strength of this I've ordered Love is the Thing and Just One of Those Things from Acoustic Sounds, shame Amazon doesn't have more of these titles at the $21 mark.

But yeah, blown away by how incredible this Mono recording sounds on SACD, a moving experience.

After Midnight is the best of the bunch so far. The others have string arrangements that do sound great but are not as much to my liking as NKC playing piano in a small ensemble.

[Sigma6]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

I just received my copy of After Midnight from Amazon for $21 this past week-end.

I've already listened to the entire disc twice though. It is simply incredible and I'm very grateful to Hoffman for the glowing recommendation he gave on this particular title without which I probably would have let these discs pass me by.

On the strength of this I've ordered Love is the Thing and Just One of Those Things from Acoustic Sounds, shame Amazon doesn't have more of these titles at the $21 mark.

But yeah, blown away by how incredible this Mono recording sounds on SACD, a moving experience.

I too have ordered this title on SH's recommendation, now just have to wait for it to make it it here...