Hi-Rez Highway

New high resolution SACD releases, players and technology.

Return to Hi-Rez Highway

Message Sort: Post Order or Asylum Reverse Threaded

Problems with accuracy of SACD-net

71.166.106.162
Posted on January 19, 2015 at 10:32:59
ruxtonvet
Audiophile

Posts: 527
Location: maryland
Joined: September 25, 2004
 I purchased "Tune thy Musicke to thy Hart" on the basis of a review in SACD-net which gave this SACD maximum stars for both sonics and interpretation. This is the worst sounding SACD and maybe even CD I have ever heard. The upper frequencies are piercing - completely unlistenable. The music is also boring but that is only my opinion. Have they no shame or just bad ears?

 

Hide full thread outline!
    ...
RE: Problems with accuracy of SACD-net, posted on January 19, 2015 at 12:10:05
HighEndWire
Audiophile

Posts: 1624
Joined: August 2, 2002
 It apparently only had one review (unless I misread it) prior to this week. So buying it based on one opinion is left with the conclusions of that one opinion.

 

Looks like you are the odd man out here..., posted on January 19, 2015 at 13:47:11
krisjan
Reviewer

Posts: 929
Joined: May 6, 2001
 ...because in the discussion thread about this release, there are several others who discuss the excellence of this SACD (in performance and sound). Since you don't list your system over at SACD.net, we can only conclude that your Radio Shack receiver and Bose speakers are sub par. :-)

 

RE: Looks like you are the odd man out here..., posted on January 19, 2015 at 14:06:45
Awe-d-o-file
Dealer

Posts: 21037
Location: 50 miles west of DC
Joined: January 10, 2004
 his system is listed here: VTL amp and Infinity RS-1's. Spectral pre and an ES-5400 and PS3 as potential SACD sources.

E
T


ET

"If at first you don't succeed, keep on sucking till you do suck seed" - Curly Howard 1936

 

RE: Looks like you are the odd man out here..., posted on January 19, 2015 at 16:20:17
fantja
Audiophile

Posts: 15518
Location: Alabama
Joined: September 11, 2010
 Interesting combo- VTL and Spectral...

 

RE: Problems with accuracy of SACD-net, posted on January 20, 2015 at 07:01:34
Fitzcaraldo215
Audiophile

Posts: 1120
Location: Philadelphia
Joined: September 7, 2008
 It is a mystery. It sounds utterly superb to me on my system, as do all the releases by Stile Antico on Harmonia Mundi. I could not recommend them all more highly, including this one.

A good friend who is a prominent recording reviewer uses that particular recording as a sonic reference whenever he is demoing his system. He prizes it. Neither he nor I hear anything at all like you describe. But, note that he and I listen in multichannel. Still, I cannot believe the stereo DSD version would sound significantly worse. Has something gone amiss with your system?

 

RE: Problems with accuracy of SACD-net, posted on January 20, 2015 at 16:06:02
fantja
Audiophile

Posts: 15518
Location: Alabama
Joined: September 11, 2010
 I was thinking that sacd-net is a user-based data entry system, is it not?

 

RE: Problems with accuracy of SACD-net, posted on January 21, 2015 at 08:54:03
Fitzcaraldo215
Audiophile

Posts: 1120
Location: Philadelphia
Joined: September 7, 2008
 Yes, but...

You will find that over 90% of classical reviews there are done by a core of really top notch, experienced and knowledgable reviewers. The positive review in question was done by geohominid, who has an excellent track record. I have used his and other reviews there with great success for many years. There is no better site anywhere for recording reviews, musically and sonically.

If you take a look at other reviews of the recording - they are numerous including a Grammophone Editor's Choice Award - it would seem unlikely that anyone else is hearing what the OP is hearing. He is certainly entitled to his opinion. But, I still think something is amiss with his disc, his system, his volume setting or something, although he says he does not like the music either. Like chamber music recordings, this disc does need to be turned down somewhat from "average" volume settings. And, with the high pitched sopranos recorded in a highly reverberant setting, it may serve as a revealing checkup on a system's resolving ability.

 

RE: Problems with accuracy of SACD-net, posted on January 23, 2015 at 16:04:04
fantja
Audiophile

Posts: 15518
Location: Alabama
Joined: September 11, 2010
 Excellent-Fitz!

 

RE: Problems with accuracy of SACD-net, posted on February 7, 2015 at 09:47:19
flyingdutchman
Audiophile

Posts: 623
Location: Honolulu
Joined: January 25, 2003
 Fitz, C'mon the best reviews are over at SA-CD.net? Hyperbole, much?

 

RE: Problems with accuracy of SACD-net, posted on February 8, 2015 at 08:33:29
Fitzcaraldo215
Audiophile

Posts: 1120
Location: Philadelphia
Joined: September 7, 2008
 Yup. That is what I said and what I believe. I would be most indebted to you if you could point me to a site that offers better classical music reviews in any medium, let alone hi Rez and Multichannel. I have found nothing that comes close, and I have looked.

 

Fanfare, posted on February 8, 2015 at 12:50:11
Kal Rubinson
Reviewer

Posts: 12435
Location: New York
Joined: June 5, 2002
 I read the reviews of the music/performance in Fanfare and worry about the audio quality based on the provenance, my experience and trial-and-error.

 

RE: Fanfare, posted on February 8, 2015 at 14:07:39
Fitzcaraldo215
Audiophile

Posts: 1120
Location: Philadelphia
Joined: September 7, 2008
 Yes, Kal. I did subscribe to Fanfare for awhile. In the early stages of building my SACD library, I combed through their online archives of SACDs and I did find a number of gems whose reviews I could cross check with sa-cd.net and other sources. And, there are a number of fine reviewers there. I was very happy with the results I achieved that way. But, it was a one-time thing.

I found Fanfare much less to my tastes and interests on an ongoing basis over time. So, I am a lapsed subscriber. Its coverage of SACD/hi Rez/Mch pales by comparison to sa-cd.net. And, the Fanfare reviewers have far less credibility on sonic issues, devoting even less attention to them than sa-cd.net reviewers, and usually stereo-only.

I must say, though, that your own occasional forays into recommended Mch discs have also been tremendously valuable to me. Keep up the very fine work! But, obviously, they are a drop in the bucket compared to sa-cd.net.

 

RE: Fanfare, posted on February 8, 2015 at 19:23:30
Kal Rubinson
Reviewer

Posts: 12435
Location: New York
Joined: June 5, 2002
 Thanks, Carl. I agree with your comments although I will continue to prowl through Fanfare for the music comments, discounting most of the comments about sound qualities.

FWIW, when I started reading Fanfare 30 years or so ago, I bought a CD based on a Fanfare review which extolled its fabulous sound. My reaction was exactly opposite and, to this day, I take the opposite from this reviewer's audio assessments. Makes him useful. :-)

 

Page processed in 0.035 seconds.

[ Top Top of Page ] [ Contact Us ] [ Support/Wish List ] [ Copyright © 2024, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]
[ General ] [ Speakers ] [ Tubes ] [ Vinyl ] [ Digital ] [ Hi-Rez ] [ Video Asylum ] [ Cables ] [ Tweaks/DIY ] [ Music ] [ Films ]