SACD and Bluray hi-res audio

Back on topic.

Hi-Res Blu-ray/CD Limited Edition Box Set arrived in the post today.

Ive been listening to the album a few times, since Friday in Hi-Res on Tidal and Im very impressed with it, but the Stones are my favorite band, so Im quite biased.

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I finally landed this is a JB HiFi sale. I’ve just watched about a half of the concert so far, but the visual and audio quality for a 1971 recording is just astonishing. Thanks to @MoonDrifter for the recommendation.

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I’m about to take the plunge with an old, factory-refurbished Ayre C-5xeMP, direct from Ayre, with a 2-year warranty on everything bar the drive. It plays CD, SACD, DVD-A (it doesn’t do video, which is fine with me). However, I don’t have any SACD or DVD-A discs. I like the look of your recos, but where do you get them these days? It’s slim pickings on Acoustic Sounds, Elusive Dic, MoFi, and Music Direct. Any suggestions?

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I get a lot of SACDs off fleabay. They are cheap and plentiful there, at least here in Blighty. I got loads of Stones, Dylan, CAN, jazz and classical discs for not very much money at all.

The PF discs I think I got from Diverse Vinyl. CD Japan is another good source.

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Discogs is often good, though you can sometimes be a bit short of sellers able or willing to ship to the UK.

The website Super Deluxe Edition did an article a while back called ‘Top 10: SACDs you can afford to buy’ which makes for interesting reading.

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Congratulations. I have one, and I loved it - until I ripped my entire collection, including SACDs, and now stream through my ND5 XS2. :smiley:

SACDs are still a pretty big business in Japan, with hundreds of discs not often imported by U.S. stores or e-stores. However, the discs are not cheap. Try CD Japan and Tower Records in Japan. There’s a very, very long thread on classical SACDs (to which I’ve participated on occasion) at Hoffman. Most are of Japanese origin. But the music is sourced/licensed from the major labels.

Just a heads up on the Ayre and (the relatively rare) DVD-As. Because it doesn’t have video, you have to work a bit to find the stereo channel on the disc. Some discs don’t have true stereo channels, and the best you’ll get is a down-mix of the surround.

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Thanks pal.

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Great suggestion. Appreciate it.

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Thanks. I might be coming back to you for tips on the Ayre. Much as I love my ND5 XS2, I often yearn irrationally for a silver disc. And I simply cannot be arsed to rip all my CDs.

The little experience I have with SACD was massively positive. I don’t know why I’ve wait so long to dip my toe in these waters.

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For me it was a practical decision as much as anything else. I live a NYC apartment, with a decent size collection of books as well as what most people would consider a large CD collection (though not necessarily those on this forum :smiley:). Something had to give, and I wasn’t going to switch to a Kindle.

My CDs are packed away. Some no longer rest in their trays, but the ones that might someday have value (including my SACDs) still do.

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Some good stuff available from Juno

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Just ripped an Acoustic Sounds SACD that arrived from Juno today - sounds fab.

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How did you connect the Ayre to your (I presume) Naim amp?

Ayre pre-amp and amp.I used Au24 cables recommended by my dealer. Standard RCA connectors. But that’s probably not the help you were looking for.

These have just dropped. Analogue Productions SACD.

They produce the inkiest of inkiest blackness.

I currently have no interconnects or speaker cables to listen to them. :weary_face: :rofl:

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Just to clarify - while the Japanese e-commerce sites have a large number of classical titles, they also have plenty of non-classical titles. I’ve bought recordings by the Stones and The Who along with Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Art Pepper, and others.

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For those interested parties, and to the best of my knowledge, these were released on SACD for the first time by Tower Records Japan in collaboration with Japan Victor Corporation (JVC).


These 2 are in hand, with the third (Lee Ritenour In Rio - NCS-80039) on the way.

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What a recording! Remarkable playing and a real “in the room” experience with this DSD128 from HDTT

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Prompted by a comparison video on Tracking Angle of vinyl vs CD playback, I downloaded this album

It comes in 3 format versions

  1. WAV in 24/48
  2. ALAC in 24/192
  3. DSD64

So I have now 2 versions for direct comparison and the Tidal version, which is a FLAC 24/48

Michael Fremer presented for comparison on YouTube, a track played on his Wilson Benesch GMT turntable with a lacquer from Chesky Records vs a redbook CD via a Musical Fidelity CD transport in the Ideon Axoim DAC.
So we are not talking ordinary equipment here

However to get the tracks into YouTube there are a number of conversions still required.

However with the album provided in download in the 3 formats you can do your own side-by-side comparison for yourself.

I am using Roon to control the playback and provide the Tidal Max, over a SonoreUPnP bridge into my NDS.

Today’s delivery from AcousticSounds

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