Some really dumb SACD questions

[music again]

I have some really dumb SACD questions.

First of all I have seen many 'types" of SACD. Plain SACD, 2 channel SACD and hybrid CD to name a few. I have an Oppo 981-HD, which does play SACD's. Now I bought my first hybrid SACD, The Carpenters. I played it on the Oppo, selecting no special settings. It sounded AWESOME on the Summits! Very open, airy and crisp! Unlike red book CD's. Kind of spoiled me. I do have a couple MOFI Gold CD's and they are noticably better. Most "remastered" CD's sound better as well, but not as good as this Carpeters hybrid SACD.

Now will my Oppo play a "regular" SACD, even though I only have two channels, or do I need a pre/pro with 5 to 7 channels?

If you have a 5.1 system, are you getting discrete sounds from the 4 channels when you play an SACD?

That I do not really care for on music. Movies, OK, but not music. I do not really want a 5.1 system. Every time I add up the pieces parts to go from a 2 channel to a minimum 5.1, my wallet starts to cry. My wife, for some reason says she wouldn't mind a center channel. When the TV sound is on if we're watching a movie, she says the sound "fills in better". I started looking at the updated Cary Cinema 11a and though that was very cool. I could even do a theater bypass with my Cary SLP-03! Still too complicated and expensive for me anyway.

Lastly, I am seriously considering getting a Cambridge Audio 840C, which has outs that can use the internal DAC with other equipment. So following with the above questions . . . can I play my Oppo which has SACD capability, through the 840C's DAC, and get 2 channel SACD?

Thanks for responses that will come!

Joe M.

 

[Cherian]

My Esoteric SACD player can be setup so that it reads one selected layer of the SACD disk. I too only have a 2 channel set up so my player reads the 2 channel SACD data that is on the disk. Most SACDs have a multi channel and 2 channel information encoded on it. Not sure if you can set the Oppo to read the 2 channel first.

As far as I know you cannot use an external DAC to decode SACD data. The only way to do this is to use an HDMI connection. But this will convert the DSD data to PCM.

 

[C.A.P]

great post. I too am not up to speed on SACD.I hope to learn as well

 

[music again]

Most SACDs have a multi channel and 2 channel information encoded on it. Not sure if you can set the Oppo to read the 2 channel first. QUOTE]

Cherian,

That is where some of the confusion comes in. Unless it specifically says 2 channel SACD or hybrid, I don't think I can play a CD that just says it's SACD. Maybe I just need to buy a SACD and test it out.

Joe

 

[Cherian]

Even if the SACD disk is multi channel only the Estoaric SACD player (DV-50S) will mix it into 2 channel. Again not sure if the Oppo will do this.

All SACD players should play any SACD disk.

 

[DTB300]

First of all I have seen many 'types" of SACD. Plain SACD, 2 channel SACD and hybrid CD to name a few.

SACD - no such thing as a "plain" SACD. They are categorized as follows.

"Stereo SACD" - SACD ONLY, 2 Channel
"Hybrid Stereo SACD" - Redbook Layer and SACD Layer - 2 Channel Only
"Hybrid MCH SACD" - RedBook Layer, MCH SACD Layer, 2 Channel SACD Layer

Carpenters is a nice sounding SACD, but there are many better ones (but they did a great job on such old recordings). Search the threads here and you will find some listings of them (not in recommended section - I believe it was a reply to Cherian who needed a SACD player before early June)

Surround channel music - Depends on the mix of the SACD. Some put voices and instruments there, others use them for hall or venue ambiance recreation. You will find most Classical uses the surround for ambiance recreation (they also use center ch for improved placement of instruments across the stage), but there a few classical which have instruments playing there (ie. 4 Organ Bach piece where each organ is in a speaker as that is the way they are approximately located in the Church).

BTW, if you do not like to have instruments and voices in the surrounds then you will not like Floyd DSOTM - which is one of most recommended SACD's out there. The Wall on MoFi is far better sounding sonically - again IMO.

Telarc, Chesky, MoFi as some great places to start for "usually" great SACD's, but there are other labels making them too.

But remember, just because it is a SACD, does not automatically equate to great sound. Like all sources (digital, vinyl, tape, etc.) used for playback, it is up to the people who record and make the masters which determines how good it is.

The Oppo is a great place to start for a CD/SACD player considering the price vs performance ratio, but there are far better players out there. Just depends on how much you want to spend.

All SACD players should play any SACD disk.

Correct.

 

[ScottGardner]

Interestingly the Oppo can be modified to send out 6 separate digital signals via an 3x S/PDIF Digital Output board.

http://www.switch-box.com/3x_S_PDIF_Digital_Output_Board.html

http://www.switch-box.com/Oppo_DV980H_Modified.html

playback via:

Meridian or Lexicon others?

To rip you will need :

Lynx AES card
or
RME AES card
or
Believe it or not a Creative sound card (down sampled to 48k)

Then to build an mlp stream (DVDA or SACD) all you need is: Minnetonka SurCode MLP ($2500)