SACDs

[ManUtd]

Originally Posted by bobbydrugar

I am sure its possible to read through the 20 pages of this thread to find some answers but what the heck here is to fishing. I currently have and oppo 93 player and having been lurking around a few recent threads here lately i decided to pick up brothers at arms 20 anv sacd from amazon. I know the album and it looked like a good starting point. this will be my first sacd ever and upon further research i have seen very mixed (majority favorible) reviews of this disk and the negative reviews seem to be calling out some potentially real problems stemming from the early digital source tha this album in general has been mastered from.

long story shortish what would be a couple of good starting sacd's that could be had for less the a home mortgage to get into this hobby. I already have a couple of 96/24 blu-audio titles and well strange as it sounds the SACD market fills in some gaps in the currently very limited Blu-audio market.

Any help?
Thanks,
T

What kind of music do you listen to?

[dobyblue]

Originally Posted by bobbydrugar

I currently have and oppo 93 player and having been lurking around a few recent threads here lately i decided to pick up brothers at arms 20 anv sacd from amazon. I know the album and it looked like a good starting point. this will be my first sacd ever and upon further research i have seen very mixed (majority favorible) reviews of this disk and the negative reviews seem to be calling out some potentially real problems stemming from the early digital source tha this album in general has been mastered from.

The source was 16/44.1 that's true. There is a good interview here with Chuck Ainley who did the surround mix and also did the 24/96 5.1 mix of Alchemy for the Blu-ray.

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/489675-post2.html

The 20th anniversary of Dire Straits, Brothers in Arms has the original stereo mix of Neil Dorfsman's, although remastered by Bob Ludwig. To do the surround mix I transfered from the original digital multi-track masters and slave reels off of a Sony 3348 HR machine, analog out to Nuendo using the Apogee 16x converters at 96k/24bit. I had to do an analog transfer since the original master tapes had pre-emphisis on and there was no way to strip the emphisis to do a digital transfer. I did the transfer at 96k because there were some analog slave reels that I wanted to archive at the highest resolution. I then mixed through a Neve 88R at Mark's new studio in London, British Grove. The mixes were captured on a second Nuendo system using the Prism eight channel converters, also running at 96k/24bit. Bob mastered the album PCM and resampled to DSD for the SACD release.

And - High Fidelity Review Feature:
Brothers in Arms 20th Anniversary Edition
(Using the way back internet archive - not sure HFR is still online)

High-Resolution Mixing in 5.1 — the Chuck Ainlay Way ~ Part One
http://web.archive.org/web/200904131...in_arms_01.asp

Part Two - Preserving the Original Intent... DVD-Audio or SACD?
http://web.archive.org/web/200812300...in_arms_02.asp

Both articles are very informative and worthwhile reads.

[Clark Kent]

Originally Posted by bobbydrugar

long story shortish what would be a couple of good starting sacd's that could be had for less the a home mortgage to get into this hobby. I already have a couple of 96/24 blu-audio titles and well strange as it sounds the SACD market fills in some gaps in the currently very limited Blu-audio market.

Any help?
Thanks,
T

Brothers in Arms by the Dire Straits is overrated on SACD. The DVD-A sounds better. The album was recorded in standard PCM and converting it to DSD did little for the sound.

The first SACD everyone should buy is Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of the Moon. It's cheap and widely available while being excellent quality. Wish You Were Here on SACD is great but will cost you much more. The Billy Joel albums released by Mobile Fidelity on SACD sound excellent and most consider them now the definitive versions.

[bobbydrugar]

Cool thanks for the info I am slowly making my way through the thread but as I expected some great advice was here for the asking. I will have to check out the dark side of the moon but am hesitant since I picked up the blu-audio emersion set last year and not really sure I need another copy of that since it seams most of the mixes made it onto the emersion box set. I may have to search out the wish you were here since I skipped that emersion box (funds were tight at the time )

As to other questions asked I am into all kinds of music. My playlist currently consists of songs from Lady Gaga (guilty pleasure ) No Doubt, Kenny Chesney (have a soft spot for the country), Phantom of the opera original london cast, Enya, Heart, Journey, Metallica, ATC (From my old clubbing days ) Beverly Hils cop soundtrack, Superman Anthology soundtrack collection, shakira, and on and on. I guess you could say I have an eclectic passion for almost all things music. I will say I am not much of a modern blues/jazz (last 20 years or so) fan so not much there. I wouldn't mind adding some good classical/orchestral music to my collection. I have heard tubular bells might be worth checking out.

Again I appriciate all the help and knowledge you guys consistanly lend to myself and many others.

Thanks,
T

[PowellPressburger]

Got one of my Aimee Mann discs today.

Mann1.jpg

[Show spoiler]Mann2.jpg

[Blu-Meanie]

You might want to check out a few Moody Blues SACD's as well. On The Threshold Of A Dream, To Our Children"s Children are excellent sounding. Question of Balance is very good, but not as good sonically as the ones previously mentioned. They are still reasonably priced. I don't have Every Good Boy Deserves Favor or Seventh Sorjourn so I can't advise on those. Maybe someone here can give some input on them.

Another must-have IMO is The Allman Brothers Band Live At Fillmore East, a wonderful live album that really captures one of the greatest concerts ever recordered. If you're a rock fan you owe it to yourself to own it. Hope others chime in on this one.

I agree with pentatonic with this selection as well.

I'm always looking for reviews and comments here. There are some very knowledgable audiophiles here. I appreciate the help here.

[bobbydrugar]

well i snagged eagles hotel california. it was highly recomended on sa-cd.net and i figured what the heck good album to have anyway. any sugestions on full orchestral classical.

thanks
t

[dobyblue]

Originally Posted by Clark Kent

Brothers in Arms by the Dire Straits is overrated on SACD. The DVD-A sounds better. The album was recorded in standard PCM and converting it to DSD did little for the sound.

It's not $80 better though. I'd rather spend $20 on the SACD, it still sounds terrific and the difference between this and the DVD-A is minimal.

[uffeolby]

Originally Posted by Clark Kent

The Rolling Stones SACDs sound better than the Elton John SACDs, even though the Rolling Stones are missing surround mixes. There is little need to buy the entire box, as some songs are duplicated twice and three times if one bought every single ABCKO SACD. Buy them individually and you can get them relatively cheaply.

The whole idea with the Elton SACD:s is IMHO the surround layers of the discs. Amazing music with terrific 5.1-mixes and good, not top-notch, fidelity is what makes my day anyway.

[PowellPressburger]

So this model Player that is no longer being manufactured.. but I hear good and bad things... I guess in the end it isn't a great one Some have complained it will destroy their DVDs? which can't be good for RARA SACDs?

SONY DVPCX995V Comments anyone?

[Clark Kent]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

It's not $80 better though. I'd rather spend $20 on the SACD, it still sounds terrific and the difference between this and the DVD-A is minimal.

You're correct, the DVD-A doesn't sound $80 better than the SACD. I own both but picked them up years ago for normal retail pricing. All the Mark Knopfler SACDs and DVD-As sound quite good. I was not aware the DVD-A had gotten so expensive.

Originally Posted by PowellPressburger

SONY DVPCX995V Comments anyone?

No personal experience, but I have always been leery of mega-changers. I know I would be nervous with a mega-changer handling my SACDs when most of them are rare and irreplaceable.

[PowellPressburger]

Good point on the massive CD Changer... I guess I would like to find a 5 Disc Changer that Can handle SACD and do the analog outputs since my BLU Sony Player can't do the analog just HDMI to PCM output. (Not that it is a bad thing)

[PowellPressburger]

My Aimee Mann Lost In Space SACD I got in mail Saturday For those who love artwork shots.

[Show spoiler]Lost1.jpg
Lost2.jpg

[Clark Kent]

I've heard those Aimee Mann SACDs sound great. They are some of the few albums I regret passing on when they were cheaply available. I'm not sure I could open sealed copies unless I was positive I would never sell them. It would pain me to destroy some of their value like that.

[jacksonwalker]

Originally Posted by Blu-Meanie

I have GBYBR, Honky Chateau, Madman Across The Water, and Tumble Weed SACD's and I think Honky Chateau, Mad Man, and Tumble Weed sound amazing! Yellow Brick Road falls short of the other 3 in my opinion. Honky Cat, Where To Now St. Peter, Mad Man Across the Water are some of my favorites here. Another great sounding SACD disc is the Who's Tommy! If your a Who fan I don't think you'd be disappointed with that addition to your collection.

One of the reasons that the Tommy (the Deluxe Edition SACD) sounds so good is that Townshend mixed it. He gave an interview that he was pleased with the way the surround turned out on this disc, but added that this is one of the few albums by the Who he would be able to do. He indicated that he did not have legal access to the master tapes of other releases, including "Who's Next".

[PowellPressburger]

Originally Posted by Clark Kent

I've heard those Aimee Mann SACDs sound great. They are some of the few albums I regret passing on when they were cheaply available. I'm not sure I could open sealed copies unless I was positive I would never sell them. It would pain me to destroy some of their value like that.

I opened them both :-) But I don't plan on selling them I think from the amazon Third party sellers I was lucky I think I paid about 60.00 each. Sea Change I paid 150.00 for. (BLU rays were cut back on for these haha)

Btw any of you own Depeche Mode SACD editions? Esp Violator? Curious what people think of the audio.

[Strilo]

I am dying to get Violator in 5.1 but the prices now are just outrageous.

[Pondosinatra]

Originally Posted by PowellPressburger

I opened them both :-) But I don't plan on selling them I think from the amazon Third party sellers I was lucky I think I paid about 60.00 each. Sea Change I paid 150.00 for. (BLU rays were cut back on for these haha)

Btw any of you own Depeche Mode SACD editions? Esp Violator? Curious what people think of the audio.

Personal Jesus sounds awesome

[ToEhrIsHuman]

Originally Posted by PowellPressburger

Btw any of you own Depeche Mode SACD editions? Esp Violator? Curious what people think of the audio.

I have all of them, and they are all fabulous. Stand-outs IMO: Violator, Some Great Reward, MFTM, Black Celebration, & Ultra.

[dobyblue]

I absolutely love Violator, Policy of Truth and World in My Eyes are my favourite tracks for the surround presentation.

However with the price being so high on this item, if you can't wait then pick up the $20 North America version to get the dts 2496 5.1 track.

It's worth it for the surround, upgrade if you ever find the SACD at a decent price.

Looks like the standard CD+DVD ships from Amazon UK for under $20 - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Violator-CD-...dp/B001O5EH5O/