Thread: SACD versus ordinary CDs

Posts: 56
Page: prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 next

Post by dvda-sacd January 17, 2007 (31 of 56)
lynx said:

What about Marantz, e.g. 7001?

I know that player. I gave it to my girlfriend for Christmas, and she loves it. The SA7001 works fine.

Post by amatala January 17, 2007 (32 of 56)
lynx said:

What about Marantz, e.g. 7001?

My opinion is a bit biased because all my players are Marantz, but as far as I'm concerned Marantz players are great: very good value for the price, warm sound.
The SA7001 is a very good choice but if you can spend a couple of hundred bucks more, go for the SA7001KI, it is even better than the plain SA7001 (especially in SACD playback).

Post by simonrrb January 22, 2007 (33 of 56)
lynx said:

What about Marantz, e.g. 7001?

Hi,

Regarding your original question about the quality gain when going from ordinary CD to SACD & your question about the Marantz 7001:

I have just ordered some new HiFi kit and had been told by dealers that there is not much difference between standard CD and SACD. Luckily two things influenced me to check this out for myself;

1) The discovery of this site and

2) The fact that the LSO Live label are issuing all of their latest releases on SACD and are progressively issuing their back catalogue on SACD as well. They also have a good information page about SACD which may be of interest:

http://www.lso.co.uk/recordings/lsolive/news.asp?id=212

I figured that these guys know as much about classical music recording and reproduction as anyone, so there must be a good reason for them to back SACD.

On to your question regarding the Marantz 7001. I went to the dealer and he set up some equipment in a listening room: 2 x Monitor Audio GS60 speakers, a Musical Fidelity Amp & CD player + for comparison purposes a Marantz 7001 SACD player.

We played the LSO’s recent recording of Walton’s Syphony’s No1 on the regular CD player and of course it picked up the standard CD layer and sounded great. Then we switched to the Marantz 7001 with the exact same kit and the amp set to the exact same volume.

At first I didn’t believe my ears as I expected the SACD to sound better so we switched back again and played the first 4 mins on the regular CD player, then to the SACD. One thing the dealer commented on was that as soon as the disc was in the Marantz SACD we stopped talking and were absorbed by the performance.

I listened to the whole of the first movement and I have to say that both of us were blown away by the differences, some of which were as follows:

1. In the opening of the 1st movement, there is a very quiet timpani roll. On the CD player we could hear that it was a quiet timp roll, on the SACD we could hear that it was a quiet timp roll and we could hear the beaters hitting the skin of the drum.

2. The next entry of the 1st movement is the strings playing a quiet repetitive rhythm. On the CD player the notes sounded slurred, on the SACD we could clearly hear the articulation of each note.

3. The dynamic range of the music was better represented. The difference between the louder and quieter passages was much greater with the SACD player. This made the performance come to life with more realism.

4. The positioning of the instruments was much clearer with the SACD. I know Hifi magazines talk about this stuff and I have no idea what they are going on about, but to me what it meant was that I could point to where the different instruments sat much easier than with the standard CD player.

5. In the louder passages with the standard CD player I could hear that the Orchestra was playing loudly and the sounds were a representation of the strings playing loudly, the brass playing loudly etc, but with the SACD I could hear that the orchestra was playing loudly, which section was playing loudly, which instrument within that section was playing loudly and also what kind of attack on the note that the instrumentalist was using.

6. The close of the first movement was nothing short of awe inspiring. There is one pause when the brass and woodwind sections take a breath together before playing and you could hear each individual player taking his or her breath and then playing again. (They play like Gods in this recording btw!).

7. The recording of the LSO that I was listening to was recorded live in the Barbican Centre in London and I have sat in that hall and listened to that Orchestra many times. With the CD player I felt I was hearing a representation of that performance, whereas with the SACD player I was sat in the Barbican Centre concert hall, in the stalls, with the orchestra in front of me.

I haven’t listened to any £8,000-£15,000 CD players, maybe they can overcome the information difference between CD and SACD, but what more can I say? I changed my order from a good CD player to a Marantz SACD player and I am looking forward to it arriving and being set up.

I read sometimes that there is no difference between CD and SACD and the format is dead etc etc, but I look at the number of recording available on this site, I look at the LSO issuing all of their recordings on SACD and I have the evidence of my own listening experience and I don’t know how there is any comparison between SACD and regular CD.

The Marantz 7001 SACD that I listened to blew me and the dealer away, so my advise would be go for it, especially if you like classical music and will be building a collection from quality labels like LSO live.

All the best and happy listening!

Ps. Thanks to all the contributors on this site – without it I might have spent my money on a good CD player and missed out on listening with an awesome CD player.

Post by Peter January 22, 2007 (34 of 56)
Simon, you sum up my feelings entirely!

Post by Polly Nomial January 22, 2007 (35 of 56)
simonrrb said:

I haven’t listened to any £8,000-£15,000 CD players, maybe they can overcome the information difference between CD and SACD, but what more can I say? I changed my order from a good CD player to a Marantz SACD player and I am looking forward to it arriving and being set up.

Welcome to the club!

I think this neatly sums up the "problem" some old-school audiophiles have with SACD: for about 5% of the price of a "good" [i.e. reasonable] RBCD/vinyl player one can get an equally good SACD player, 10% can show a significant and audible improvement over these vastly more expensive products even to newcomers. I can still remember laughing inwardly when a local retailer attempted to demonstrate how good RBCD can sound with a "good" player, only for a cheap DVD/SACD player to blow it out of the water for about 10% of the price and the salesman trying to persuade me that the more expensive (i.e. higher commission) sale was a "better deal"... Anyway, as you might imagine, I bought with my ears and I was able to put the savings into buying discs.

I imagine that a strongly held - but perhaps not consciously (and certainly rarely aired) - view is along the lines of "but now lots of people can get excellent sound - before it was a nice, small club!"

Post by lynx January 22, 2007 (36 of 56)
simonrrb said:


The Marantz 7001 SACD that I listened to blew me and the dealer away, so my advise would be go for it, especially if you like classical music and will be building a collection from quality labels like LSO live.

All the best and happy listening!

Thanks for all the illuminating info ;)

sincerely
John

Post by archie March 26, 2007 (37 of 56)
amatala said:

My opinion is a bit biased because all my players are Marantz, but as far as I'm concerned Marantz players are great: very good value for the price, warm sound.
The SA7001 is a very good choice but if you can spend a couple of hundred bucks more, go for the SA7001KI, it is even better than the plain SA7001 (especially in SACD playback).

Hi

After hearing the wonders of my friend's Roxy Music Avalon SACD over the standard CD, I'm looking at purchasing a Marantz SACD to pair/replace my Cambridge Audio 640C v2 cd player.

I have the standard Marantz PM7001 amp. Given it is the non tuned version would I be wasting my time spending the extra £200 on the SA7001KI or would I still hear an improvement ?

Post by Myrantz March 26, 2007 (38 of 56)
Switching from the 2 channel SACD layer on the Denon 3910 to the Redbook CD on the Rega Apollo, I have to say the Apollo offers the best presentation. I don't know about higher end SACD players and how they would fare against the new Rega line up, but I was genuinely surprised at the better bass control, the cleaner sound, clearer detail and improvement in PRaT. Overall, it was just more musical. I am a hi-res music fan and have compiled a decent SACD (and DVD-A) library. I would only hope now that Rega would make a SACD multi-channel player - going by the Apollo, it should really be something else.

Post by raffells March 26, 2007 (39 of 56)
Myrantz said:

Switching from the 2 channel SACD layer on the Denon 3910 to the Redbook CD on the Rega Apollo, I have to say the Apollo offers the best presentation. I don't know about higher end SACD players and how they would fare against the new Rega line up, but I was genuinely surprised at the better bass control, the cleaner sound, clearer detail and improvement in PRaT. Overall, it was just more musical. I am a hi-res music fan and have compiled a decent SACD (and DVD-A) library. I would only hope now that Rega would make a SACD multi-channel player - going by the Apollo, it should really be something else.

I also have the 3910 and would totally agree with you in its stock form.Virtually any half decent CD based sytems would give it a run for its money...I hardly ever play a CD on the Denon and was appalled at its performance after reading a good but error strewn review.Started modding it with 30 days..
Plenty of mods are required.Suggest you look at the Nad sacd player...

Post by Myrantz March 26, 2007 (40 of 56)
raffells said:

I also have the 3910 and would totally agree with you in its stock form.Virtually any half decent CD based sytems would give it a run for its money...I hardly ever play a CD on the Denon and was appalled at its performance after reading a good but error strewn review.Started modding it with 30 days..
Plenty of mods are required.Suggest you look at the Nad sacd player...

Thanks Raffels - mods here are very expensive. I heard the NAD M55 (or whatever) and unfortunately conditions and related equipment were not ideal. Nor was I impressed with having to use the OSD to change layers and formats. I had a Denon 2900 previously and I would not have got the 3910 but for the excellent price - though that now doesn't mean all that much when sacrificing sound quality. I think I'll wait a bit before upgrading to a better SACD (or universal) player. The Denon now proves disappointing with SACD playback after being well and truly licked by redbook on the Apollo - but at least it has multi-channel playback which I do enjoy.

Page: prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 next

Closed