DSD is better than PCM!

[TBone]

Thankfully pretty much every SACD had a CD layer in it, otherwise I'd have been mad that the "CD" I bought didn't play! I've only one SACD in my collection without the CD layer.

Not been so lucky: of all my remaining dsd titles only DSOTM is dual layer.

 

[TBone]

The nerd part of me likes DSD because it's a technological curio ...

hence my luv of vinyl reproduction.

this is a pass-time, a hobby, if that alone brings joy to different peeps in different ways, so be it. often that perspective gets lost in such left/right debates.

 

[pinpoint_oxford]

The nerd part of me likes DSD because it's a technological curio

This is also another reason I think DSD is neat. Sony decided to throw caution to the wind when they created it and released it. I also like the passionate producers that are keeping the format alive.

 

[mansr]

This is also another reason I think DSD is neat.

Neat is not a word I would use to describe DSD. Try "abomination" instead.

 

[sq225917]

Yes those brave sony engineers throwing caution to the wind to create a completely unnecessary digital music format just to replace the cd patent revenue stream with another.

 

[dadregga]

Neat is not a word I would use to describe DSD. Try "abomination" instead.

It's the Furby of digital audio.

 

[TBone]

Yes those brave sony engineers throwing caution to the wind to create a completely unnecessary digital music format just to replace the cd patent revenue stream with another.

bingo!!!

 

[pinpoint_oxford]

Neat is not a word I would use to describe DSD. Try "abomination" instead.

Maybe neat wasn't the correct word. Interesting is probably better. Abomination? I'd reserve that for MQA.

 

[krabapple]

Not been so lucky: of all my remaining dsd titles only DSOTM is dual layer.

Most (all?) of the SACDs that are single-layer DSD in my collection are stereo-only imports (multichannel mixes on SACD are always DSD). Sony USA did do a series of nonhybrid (DSD only) releases early on in SACD history, but switched to hybrid fairly quickly.

There's several variations on SACD releases -- this is from the old acousticsounds retail website categories:

Hybrid:
Hybrid Mono SACD
Hybrid Multichannel SACD
Hybrid Stereo SACD

Single Layer:
Single Layer Multichannel SACD
Single Layer Stereo SACD


Most of the SACDs I own are ones with multichannel (DSD) mixes; the presence of a PCM layer for the stereo mix is not something I pay much attention to. But AFAIR every multichannel SACD I own has hybrid stereo content -- DSD and PCM, i.e. I don't recall owning any that have only a DSD stereo mix + DSD multichannel.

 

[TBone]

just checked my current travel coasters, Dylan's boblond cs821 columbia sony. SRV texasflood epic es65870. beck bbblow es33409. all stereo, and all have, in tiny side font on back "THIS DISK IS DESIGNED FOR USE IN SUPER AUDIO CD PLAYERS ONLY".

 

[krabapple]

Those are among the early SACDs I referred to. Your Blow By Blow ES-33409 for example was released in 2000...not long after the first SACDs were released in the USA (September 1999). In 2003 it was re-released on SACD (Epic 502181 9) as a hybrid disc*.

And yes this wasn't only the case on the Sony label itself, it was also its subsidiaries like Epic and Columbia.




(*it has been re-released several times since then, most recently to correct a phase inversion error between the front and rear channels that had persisted across all versions since 2000)

 

[TBone]

interesting, its been so long since ive heard em, thought i had the stones beggers, remembered playing that most.

These cases, just like the orig, picking thru a 2nd hand store, you may never know is was dsd. Nothing on the front says dsd, only on back tiny print.

 

[krabapple]

The Stones SACDs were all hybrid.

 

[TBone]

too bad, always wish to hear & measure classics like beggers , dont think i have that disk anymore ...

 

[krabapple]

I measured the DSD vs PCM of a 2002 Stones SACD. Essentially identical in the audible band. Those SACDs were very well mastered (by Bob Ludwig).

 

[phoenixdogfan]

I have an Alan Parsons Project CD "On Air" which sounds absolutely wonderful and it is a DDD recording. Does that mean there was no tape utilized?

That's the SPARS code. It indicates it was digitally recorded (probably to a digital tape), edited on a digital console, and digitally mastered.

 

[Galliardist]

Yes those brave sony engineers throwing caution to the wind to create a completely unnecessary digital music format just to replace the cd patent revenue stream with another.

The main SACD patents should have run out by now, with one or two expiring this year IIRC. Apart from some of the copy protection measures added later, and who cares about them?

just checked my current travel coasters, Dylan's boblond cs821 columbia sony. SRV texasflood epic es65870. beck bbblow es33409. all stereo, and all have, in tiny side font on back "THIS DISK IS DESIGNED FOR USE IN SUPER AUDIO CD PLAYERS ONLY".

I'm sure some mug or collector would pay you quite a large sum of money for those. I used to know someone who swore blind that the CD data destroyed the "pristine SACD sound" on hybrid discs(!)

 

[TBone]

I'm sure some mug or collector would pay you quite a large sum of money for those.

... advertised em as being the highest-rez of all coasters, nobody cared 1bit.

 

[pinpoint_oxford]

Apart from some of the copy protection measures added later, and who cares about them?

As far as I understand, Sony gave up on SACD. I believe one of the engineers on the team bought out all the original recording equipment too.

 

[krabapple]

DG is still dribblin' em out

Herbert Von Karajan-Dvorak Symphonies Nos 8 9-Hybrid Stereo SACD|Acoustic Sounds

Acoustic Sounds Audiophile Vinyl Records

store.acousticsounds.com