Just got a SACD player - recommend some good SACD's please

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Are you sure those Talking Heads albums only have a DVD-Audio layer? Because many music DVDs have the 5.1 mix both as a DVD-A layer and as regular DVD layer. Meaning, you can play the surround mix of the album as if it was regular video DVD, if your player can't read the DVD-A layer.

For example, I have a dual disc version of Björk's Homogenic which does exactly that, the 5.1 mix is there as both a DVD-A layer, and as a DVD-V layer which any player can read. Of course the DVD-A layer has a higher bitrate than the DVD-V layer, but my ears are not good enough to tell the difference. So I've never bothered to get a more expensive player with DVD-A support just for that.

Tuomas, Thursday, 28 January 2021 16:41 (three years ago) link

And yeah, it is possible to download and play 5.1 mixes in without hard media, though AFAIK there aren't two many records available like that. But I have one album with a 5.1 mix that was released as an USB stick, and also I managed to come across someone sharing files of all Daft Punk albums as (probably unofficial) 5.1 mixes. So you can just put the files on a USB stick, stick it in your player/amp, and if it supports the file type, they will play in surround.

Tuomas, Thursday, 28 January 2021 16:48 (three years ago) link

I no longer have a surround setup, but I remember the Talking Heads dualdiscs (or their European CD/DVD equivalents, which are preferable because some CD players can't handle a dualdisc and the bonus tracks are only on the CD side) that you needed to be careful about whether you were listening to the DTS or the Dolby Digital mixes, because DTS requires a very specific setup that will sound off if speakers aren't precisely placed, whereas with Dolby Digital your receiver will compensate for imbalances in the setup if it has Audyssey or something like that. This is ignoring the hi-res portion of the disc.

Sony's CD/SACD carousel SCD-CD595 was an affordable model back in the day that sounded great and had a nice display (when I need a new player I'm always looking for one that will properly show CD-text — the blu-ray players don't), but it took forever for the discs to load.

eatandoph (Neue Jesse Schule), Thursday, 28 January 2021 17:52 (three years ago) link

I think there are some quite easy to use free tools to be found for ripping DVD-A on a computer if you ever get curious to hear them and assuming this is legal in your locale.

fist of micro bunter (Noel Emits), Thursday, 28 January 2021 18:17 (three years ago) link

And have a high res audio interface I suppose.

fist of micro bunter (Noel Emits), Thursday, 28 January 2021 18:18 (three years ago) link

foobar2000 has a plugin that lets it recognize & play dvd-a from a cd/dvd player.

Thus Sang Freud, Thursday, 28 January 2021 18:45 (three years ago) link


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