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Re: but it takes

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I agree completely with your contention that a well-recorded Redbook CD played on a top-tier Redbook player (single box) or transport with a high-quality DAC often equals or even exceeds the sound of SACD. Granted it is often very hard (and probably unfair) to compare the Redbook and SACD versions on a hybrid disc, since you never really know exactly whether the different versions were mastered the same, etc. But I've found in most cases the difference to be negligible and often a draw between sonics of the two formats - the SACD may excel in some ways, whereas the Redbook may actually do better in others. There are certainly some SACD recordings that when compared to previously-issued Redbooks of the same do sound much better, but in this scenario, you most likely have to factor in any subsequent improvements in the mastering process itself, or conversely the fact that the older Redbook versions may have been recorded using outdated PCM technology. I would also argue that I have not been completely convinced of the technical superiority of the DSD encoding process in general, given my somewhat negative impressions of many native DSD recordings.

With regard to the future of SACD or for that matter any so-called hi-rez formats, I would not mourn their demise or relegation to niche status if this meant that more effort were re-directed toward producing the highest quality Redbook CDs - we know this is already possible - and it is not that expensive. Redbook is also relatively easy to convert to a number of excellent lossless file formats that can be loaded to hard drives or iPODs - something that currently cannot be done at all with native SACD/DSD recordings - and probably never will be.


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  Kimber Kable  


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  • Re: but it takes - ts 07:53:17 11/22/06 (1)


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