|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
50.183.218.111
In Reply to: RE: I'm struck by the even-handedness of your assessment posted by Chris from Lafayette on January 28, 2015 at 09:11:23
The DSD and SACDs that I've heard were good but I felt that many were almost artificially smooth sounding. Quality PCM sounds more 'right' to me.
Follow Ups:
Yes, I could not explain what did not seem right, but I think that's it. I think that it even rounds transients a bit.
These are of course subjective reactions, and although I too have been struck by the "smoothness" of the sound on many SACD's, it's still very subtle (to me at least). On other SACD's (such as the recent Classic Records reissues of the Reiner/Chicago Living Stereo recordings of Respighi's Pines/Fountains and Rimsky's Scheherazade), I don't notice it at all - and I've heard quite a few incarnations of those performances, including the earlier Sony/BMG (Soundmirror) SACD's, as well as the JVC XRCD's. But more in line with what you're expressing, I've heard some XRCD's (basically, CD's done right - for a price!) which I prefer to some SACD's.Overall, I agree with you, but the difference is very subtle to me. In a way, I AM sorry DSD and SACD arose, since it split the hi-rez market, and I've read that much of the editing for existing SACD's had to be done in PCM anyway, and that some (many?) of the masters used for SACD's were in fact PCM to begin with, before being converted to DSD. There was also a celebrated scandal over at SA-CD.net where Robert Von Bahr of BIS records asked people to guess which of the Beethoven symphonies he recorded with Vänskä and the Minnesota Orchestra were in DSD and which were in PCM. Many previously vocal listeners (e.g., the celebrated Teresa) didn't care to take part in the test. Of those who DID take the test (some of whom had claimed that there was a night and day difference between DSD and PCM), only one or two listeners got it right! Even the guy who runs the SA-CD.net was never doctrinaire about DSD, and he recently opened the site up to blu-ray audio and tolerates some discussion about downloads (both PCM and DSD) too.
Edits: 01/29/15
Post a Followup:
FAQ |
Post a Message! |
Forgot Password? |
|
||||||||||||||
|
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: