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In Reply to: Ah Ha, that is how you can listen to CD! Rock music usually doesn't have massed strings. posted by Teresa on May 10, 2006 at 01:13:04:
Although I recognize that SACD really only has the most value if you like Classical music: which even here, - the majority of people who listen to even High-end systems do not... Consider that the most popular posts are about the Dylan, Stones, Dire Straits, and other misc. jazz and rock titles in SACD.If you are thinking that SACD titles like the TalkTalk, Sting, Herbie Hancock, Steely Dan and Peter Gabriel are bad recordings, - I suggest that you're not listening closely: they are excellent, IMO.
Lastly, if you haven't heard the Audio Aero, Esoteric, Meitner and other top tier players with TUBE OUTPUT stages, - then you have not heard how organic, natural, musical and lifelike both SACD and Redbook reproduction can be. These top tier players, (and I'm not saying that they are high value: that's in the eye of the beholder, {and they are absurdly expensive}, simply bring one closer to their favorite music, whatever it may be).
"The men who own the city make more sense than we do: their actions are clear, their lives are their own"
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Follow Ups:
If you're comparing "top tier" RBCD players with tube output stages to $1000 SACD players and finding that they are the equal (or better) of the SACD player in sound quality . . . and you're not using symphonic music in your comparison.I don't think your comparison proves much . . . except that you like the sound of tube output stages.
I also agree with Teresa that massed strings (as in symphonic music) is one of those sounds that RBCD does not reproduce well. The other is brass, especially massed trumpets. Again, something that RBCD does not do well. These are common in classical symphonic music. In both cases, what is problematic are the high-frequency overtones of these instruments which seem to drive the RBCD playback system a little crazy.
That said, I will agree with you that my good RBCD recordings sound close to my SACD recordings, both played on my XA777ES, with the DACS paralleled for RBCD playback and the "filter" setting. However, to my ears there is a substantial quality difference between native DSD recordings and SACD re-releases from analog masters, such as the "Living Stereo" and "Living Presence" re-releases. So, if you're comparing an RBCD re-release and an SACD re-release of some recording from an analog master, the difference may not be so dramatic. (In addition, the re-mastering of one may be better.)
I think rock music is a very poor source to use as a comparison. With the execption of the drum kit and the vocals, all the rest of it is electronic.
Jazz is a better comparator. I think if you listen closely to the sound of the acoustic piano you will hear a difference between RBCD and SACD. To my ears, RBCD reproduction of acoustic piano gives it, in varying degrees, an "electronic" sound that I don't hear on vinyl or on SACD.
Also, my particular loudspeakers are a bit "mellow-balanced" in that they roll off a few DB in the top octave, so they might not be the most revealing of "digital nasties."
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