maxg Posted March 19, 2002 Share Posted March 19, 2002 Well it has been a major listening long weekend here. Monday was a bank holiday in Greece and after nipping out on Saturday and picking up 70 albums on vinyl (all brand new for $5 a pop) I spent most of the last 72 hours listening and comparing. Whilst I have no common recording between all 3 formats I do have common recordings between vinyl and CD and between Vinyl and SACD. Obviously there is no way to know what processing has happened to each of the recordings on the media but the issue dates are the same in the common titles and were created from the same sessions. It should be noted that the comparitive players in this quick and dirty analysis are pretty much of a muchness in terms of price. The most expensive unit is my SACD player which cost about $550 (Sony NS900), $70 more than the record player (Pro-ject 4 with project 9 arm) which, in turn was about $70 more than the CD player (Marantz CD6000). Everything else was the same in the analysis (pre-amp, amp, interconnects, speakers, room etc.) I am not confident enough to be categorical about any of my findings as my sample groups are somewhat limited but my generic conclusions to date are as follows: 1. I do not own a single CD that sounds better than the equivalent brand new vinyl release, to me. Some of the differences are very stark and dramatic. This is particuarly true for the Dire Straits Brothers in Arms album, the Carpenters Greatest Hits album and the Dvorak Nwew World symphony with Karajan conducting. Vinyl simp2. Of the common SACD / Vinyl titles the choice is much more difficult. The first thing that strikes as a difference in the evenness of the portrayal of the music from SACD. Vinyl gives the impression of being a very non-flat medium sonically. Mids are massively strong (stronger than SACD) but highs and bass are more uneven. Sometimes it sounds "right" and sometimes off. SACD appears effortless throughout whilst you get the feeling that the mechanics of the vinyl are struggling to portray parts of the sonic spectrum. This effect is more noticable in classical recordings than in Rock. It almost suits rock better but with classical (Mendlesson's 4th symphony for example) it suffers. One thing missing from SACD compared to even brand new vinyl is hiss. Again this varies with the record. Some seem to suffer very badly whilst others the playback is comparible to the digital media in their minimal noise floor. Were SACD titles as readily and inexpensively available as vinyl I would probably not have gone down that route. As it is it seems unlikely that SACD will descend to similar pricing anytime soon I am glad to own both. In conclusion were I to list out my top ten recordings (the stuff I would take with my to a desert island type thing) then there would be a very even split between vinyl and SACD. Obviously the one great leap forward that I have not covered is the multi-channel issue. This is SACD's real strength. The trouble is that these are rarer than hen's teeth and those that do exist are not all produced that well. My best single recording across all the media I own? It is a multichannel SACD - Roger Waters Live and in the flesh, 2nd? Rossini's Barber of Seville on 180 Gram vinyl and I think that that about sums it up. No CD would make it to my top 10, but maybe 1 or 2 would sneak in to the top 20 - these would be XRCD's (three blind mice Sampler disk and Sonny Rollins Sax Collosus). Well that is about it for now - I will keep you posted as I draw further conclusions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundog Posted March 19, 2002 Share Posted March 19, 2002 If you want your CD collection to sound close to SACDs process them through the Perpetual Technologies P1A & P3A devices. The Dan Wright mod of the second one is definatly worthwhile as is the optional Monarchy power supply. While not inexpensive, it makes my 1200 plus CDs in standard SONY juke-boxes sound great - even those that are copies. SACDs are better, however, if recorded in DSD. I will not bother with reissues however. ------------------ Soundog's HT Systems Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prana-Bindu Posted March 19, 2002 Share Posted March 19, 2002 Soundog: Do you mean the Monolithic power supply for the P-1A/P-3 combo? or is there a Monarchy power supply? If it IS the Monolithic, can you run anything else off of it in addition to the Perpetual Technologies gear? For example (ehem), could you run the two units in addition to an Audio Alchemy DTI? Perpetual Technologies is coming out with the P-5 this summer (I think). It's supposed to do what the P-1A/P-3 combo does in a single unit, but I think it's also supposed to add features or quality. After I get my P-1A and DIT, I'm done upgrading DSP; enough is enough.... maxg: I wonder if the inadequacies with vinyl that you identified when comparing with SACD are due to wow and flutter? Granite and marble are cheap and totally available in your area, aren't they? Perhaps a custom-made granite turntable would help reduce those analog problems.... ------------------ May the bridges we burn light our way.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.