golfcrazy1984 Posted April 19, 2012 Report Share Posted April 19, 2012 Over the past months I have purchased an SACD player, and have been REALLY enjoying "hearing" music again. Anyways, I've purchased quite a few of the Analogue Productions SACD's mastered by Kevin Grey and Steve Hoffman. They have been ASTONISHING! If you have an SACD player and don't have any of these, go out and get them! Even the CD layer is a big improvement over the Rudy Van Gelder series. They also have a bunch of late 50s- early 60s Capitol Nat King Cole recordings that are VERY realistic! Just a heads up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.A.W. Posted April 19, 2012 Report Share Posted April 19, 2012 (edited) The AP/Blue Note SACDs have been discussed here before. They sound OK, but in my opinion they're way overpriced. $20 would have been a good price. The NKC SACDs are hideously expensive. Edited April 19, 2012 by J.A.W. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sonnymax Posted April 19, 2012 Report Share Posted April 19, 2012 Over the past months I have purchased an SACD player, and have been REALLY enjoying "hearing" music again... With all due respect, I think what you're REALLY hearing is the sound, not the music. Of course, there's nothing wrong with that, but bear in mind that the music experience is always there, regardless of the advanced (and in some cases questionable) sound reproduction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
golfcrazy1984 Posted April 19, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 19, 2012 The AP/Blue Note SACDs have been discussed here before. They sound OK, but in my opinion they're way overpriced. $20 would have been a good price. The NKC SACDs are hideously expensive. I agree that the price is high. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
golfcrazy1984 Posted April 19, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 19, 2012 Over the past months I have purchased an SACD player, and have been REALLY enjoying "hearing" music again... With all due respect, I think what you're REALLY hearing is the sound, not the music. Of course, there's nothing wrong with that, but bear in mind that the music experience is always there, regardless of the advanced (and in some cases questionable) sound reproduction. I am hearing more of the sound, certainly. Isn't that the point of SACD? I much prefer these new SACD's, the original Vinyl, APO Vinyl, XRCD, over the RVG CD's, I think MOST of the RVG's are very compressed and they don't do justice to the original recordings. I think most would agree. I am for the music first in any format, but when the recording makes a saxophone sound like it has a pillow stuffed in it's bell, it's not very enjoyable especially if there is a better alternative out there. Bottom line, the instruments and voices sound much more realistic, and in part, make the music more believable. I totally respect your viewpoint, but at this point, for me, I think I've found a good direction to go. Certainly, just because it is SACD or other "high resolution" formats does not guarantee good sound, there are many CD's that sound great. But the original recording must be good as well as mastering/remastering. There are many CD's from the 80s and 90s that sound good, and I listen to quite a bit. But this whole SACD thing has been a recent development in my life that I have been enjoying! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stefan Wood Posted April 19, 2012 Report Share Posted April 19, 2012 Nothing wrong with SACD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.A.W. Posted April 19, 2012 Report Share Posted April 19, 2012 Not only are they expensive, but the AP/impulse! SACDs are also missing the bonus tracks that appeared on the mid- to late 1990s digipak impulse! CD reissues. The AP/Blue Note SACDs do have the bonus tracks that appeared on the 1980s/1990s CD reissues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Bresnahan Posted April 19, 2012 Report Share Posted April 19, 2012 Not only are they expensive, but the AP/impulse! SACDs are also missing the bonus tracks that appeared on the mid- to late 1990s digipak impulse! CD reissues. The AP/Blue Note SACDs do have the bonus tracks that appeared on the 1980s/1990s CD reissues. And I think the only reason these SACDs do have the bonus tracks is because we made our opinion known on the Steve Hoffman forums. I bet that if we hadn't bitched loud & clear, they would have cut off those extra tracks which would have been a crime (especially) on Grant Green's "Idle Moments". My biggest complaint about the AP/Blue Note SACDs is that they are at a very low level. Not a problem if you have a volume control but a PIA if you rip them to mp3 and put them in a shuffle playlist. Combine these SACDs with Venus CDs and you have a dynamic range nightmare! BTW, if you have the early 90s TOCJ CD, save yourself some money. They sound very good compared to the SACDs. The SACDs sound a bit better but not night & day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted April 19, 2012 Report Share Posted April 19, 2012 Spend extra money for SACDs and transfer them to mp3?!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Bresnahan Posted April 20, 2012 Report Share Posted April 20, 2012 Spend extra money for SACDs and transfer them to mp3?!! Yeah, if you want to listen to the music on your iPod at the gym. Besides, you can only rip the CD layer but both layers on these AP/Blue Note discs are at a very low level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted April 21, 2012 Report Share Posted April 21, 2012 (edited) I only have one of the APO SACDs so far, "Idle Moments," bought to check out the series. I like it a lot, but then I also like the RVG so go figure. Different takes on the material, but both are enjoyable on my system. I've worked to make my system quite flexible with tonal and gain adjustments and digital filtering and sampling rate adjustments, etc. and I find I can enjoy a wide range of material. I sold my Sony SCD-XA5400ES SACD player last year as I just was not using it much and I needed the audio cash. I still have a Decware modified SACD/DVD changer in my second system that sounded almost as good. I bought a PS Audio PerfectWave Transport and DAC to use in my main system and this duo to me sounds better in Redbook than the Sony did in SACD or Redbook. But in the meantime I found a cache of classical SACDs at a great price and decided to try out a heavily-discounted "100th Anniversary" SACD player from Denon, the DCD-A100. This incredibly well-built player (weighs 34 pounds) has amazed me with its SACD sound, wonderful cd sound as well, and I'm listening to a lot more SACDs than I ever did before. I'll be buying more SACDs as the budget allows; I've ordered the APO "Dippin'" SACD this week. I think the Blue Note SACD I have sounds very good, but it didn't make me run out and buy all of them. Again, I'm a fan of the RVG series, I find many of these sound very good on my system, and I don't worship the mastering of Steve Hoffman. But a nice series. I should try out one of the Impulse SACDs. Anyone interested in SACD playback or looking for a new CD player should consider the Denon DCD-A100. it's 40 percent off at musicdirect.com and though not cheap imo a bargain for what you get. Exquisite build, wonderful SACD and cd sound from 32 bit DACs, and you can access the DACs by coaxial and optical and USB inputs. Very impressive machine that I think was built to be a "loss leader" prestige product. I like SACD most for classical music. Edited April 21, 2012 by jazzbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swinging Swede Posted December 22, 2012 Report Share Posted December 22, 2012 I recently bought their new hybrid release of Sonny Stitt Blows The Blues, a Verve album never before officially released on CD (although there is a Fresh Sound release). I can only play the CD layer, but the sound is amazingly good! Made me realize what a difference a good remaster can make. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.A.W. Posted December 22, 2012 Report Share Posted December 22, 2012 The AP Verve hybrid SACDs, including the Stitt, were mastered by the late George Marino. It was one of his last projects before he died. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swinging Swede Posted December 31, 2012 Report Share Posted December 31, 2012 I'm sorry to hear that. I had not heard the name before, but that is one great-sounding CD (layer). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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