SACD: Music Done Right
By: Greg Maltz, Senior Technical Writer

"The compact disc was a good idea. . .this is even better". That slogan marks Sony's literature for Super Audio Compact Discs (SACDs). But SACD had better be an improvement. In the time CDs have been available, the world has seen a digital revolution that spawned powerful processors for home electronics and the arrival of true 24-bit audio. SACD players have been available in the U.S. for five months and the audio community can now answer crucial questions such as, what kind of improvements does SACD provide? Is it as good as virgin vinyl? Do CDs really pale in comparison?

According to John Dunlavy, of Dunlavy Speakers, "to me, the most audible improvements we heard with the SACD recordings was more openness, increased transparancy, finer resolution of complex musical details and separation or
'air' between instruments." At Dunlavy's exhibit at CES 2000 last month in Las Vegas, Nevada, "most visitors had little difficulty discerning the same audible improvements [of SACD] over conventional CD's, HDCDs, etc."  He added, "According to several top recording engineers I have recently spoken with, SACD (a serial bit stream system [Direct Stream Digital or DSD]) is their favorite and, they believe, the 'format of the future'."

SACD stacks up very well against vinyl, although it may take a while to convert the most fervent vinyl lovers.  Take JP "Vinylly" Morgan, for example.  Morgan, a retired art professor and audiophile, has been upgrading and developing his system since he was a college freshman.  "From my auditioning with [the dealer's] Martin Logans with a MacIntosh amp, the SACD version of [Miles Davis'] "Kind Of Blue" seemed to be a tremendous improvement over the regular CD version.  I immediately went home and played my $25.00 special audiophile LP of "Kind Of Blue" on my two systems.

"My conclusion was, SACD is a vast improvement over conventional CDs and probably over many standard LPs recorded in the 1960s-80s.  If SACDs are going to cost $20-$30, they still don't come up to the standards of the super audiophile quality LPs selling for about the same price."   Morgan's two systems are: (1) Spendor S-100's with Sunfire True Subwoofer, an integrated "no-name" 300B SET amp. and/or VTL Renassance 70 amp with Reference Line modified 2000 passive preamp, AcousTech PH 1 phono-preamp, Rega Planar 25 TT with Clearaudio Aurum Beta S mm cartridge and (2) Quad ESL 57's with RTR ESL 6 add-on tweeters, REL Strata III subwoofers, VTL compact
monoblock 100 amps with Audible Illusions Mod 3A preamp., Roksan Xerexes TT, RB-900 arm with RB Exact mm cartridge.

With none of the disadvantages of vinyl or CD and seemingly combining all the advantages of both, SACD certainly has become the new benchmark for audio quality and perhaps heir to the thrown that vinyl has occupied among audio enthusiasts--a thrown CD never was allowed to sit in.  The main holdup right now is the very few options for SACD software titles and hardware units.

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