Sacd's
Hi all,
Just been bought a marantz 7003 cd player for my birthday. I do not currently own any sacd's and would like to buy some to try on my new player. Can anybody recommend any discs that would greatly improve on the sound of std cd's also can you recommend the best place to purchase sacd's as cheap as possible. I have looked on eBay but keep getting outbid.
Thanks
You may go to Amazon and Flea Bay and type in "SACD" or "Hybrid SACD" in the search box to identify those albums you like.
Amazon is a good place to look. Beware of buying new stuff on Ebay as they are invariably more expensive than Amazon. One SACD I looked at, briefly, on Ebay was £13.99 + £2 postage and the same on Amazon was £9.99 with free delivery
+1 
yes, always compare price before you buy and Amazon in most of the time is cheaper then EBay. Also in many cases sellers from Amazon's Market Place is cheaper than you buy directly from Amazon.
+1
yes, always compare price before you buy and Amazon in most of the time is cheaper then EBay. Also in many cases sellers from Amazon's Market Place is cheaper than you buy directly from Amazon.
+2
Worth investigating Amazon's selection of the PentaTone label's releases, all of which are hybrid-SACD and good value. And Linn Records SACDs can cost less via Amazon, compared to Linn Records's online store.
Some Amazon SACD bargains:
The Marvin Gaye Collection £11.99 (maketplace)
Dark Side of the Moon £10.15 (maketplace)
Elgar: Violin Concerto / Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending. Hilary Hahn + LSO £9.03 (maketplace)
John Coltrane: A Love Supreme £9.09 (maketplace)
Plenty of RCA's Living Stereo SACDs for approx £6 via private sellers/marketplace
Also worth grabbing well-known/classic albums on SACD if the price is reasonable. For example, a few years ago I bought Bowie's Ziggy Stardust for £6; it now sells for £72++ used. In 2010, I bought Ferry's Boys and Girls for £11; it now sells for £75++ used. Now wish I'd bought extra copies of each 
6th.replicant's advice above is good and I would also suggest searching Tesco Entertainment (search under CD and use SACD as the search term [I'm not being facetious here, just that it may not be obvious]). You may also want to search outside your usual taste in music as I've done and rarely been disappointed with the results.
I have a few SACDs, bought on the used market via auction sites or Amazon. I fairly quickly stopped when I realised that the sound quality increase (if anything at all) was not worth the extra cost of the disc.
Any differences that do exist, are likely to be down to different mastering for the SACD version.
What these higher resolution formats do offer though, is multi channel sound, if that's your bag and you have the equipment capability.
I have a few SACDs, bought on the used market via auction sites or Amazon. I fairly quickly stopped when I realised that the sound quality increase (if anything at all) was not worth the extra cost of the disc.
Granted, some albums were poorly mastered in the first place - SACD/DSD can't polish a...
But for the most part, SACDs sound excellent because, in effect, an SACD has twice the resolution of a Redbook CD
Granted, some albums were poorly mastered in the first place - SACD/DSD can't polish a...
But for the most part, SACDs sound excellent because, in effect, an SACD has twice the resolution of a Redbook CD
Now we're into the realms of 'can you tell the difference between 24bit and 16bit music given identical mastering'. The problem is that perceived differences are largely down to mastering difference between the original recording and subsequent remastering. Try finding a SAC hybrid only release, copy the CD layer to CDR and back to back the two. If you can detect any difference at all, then it will be down your opinion as to whether or not it's worth the extra expense of SACD over CD.
For me personally, the jury is still out as to the audible difference between 16 and 24bit anyway and if its that close, the justification of the extra cost is simply not there.
Thanks for all the opinions and advice. I have ordered nick drake from amazon not heard his stuff before I you tuned him, sounds ok. I have also ordered love craft by the super furry animals.
Sorry, that was meant to say you tubed bloody iphone
Granted, some albums were poorly mastered in the first place - SACD/DSD can't polish a...
But for the most part, SACDs sound excellent because, in effect, an SACD has twice the resolution of a Redbook CD
It's not just 16- vs 24-bit, it's the kHzs. In effect, an SACD/DSD is 24bit/88.2kHz, whereas a Redbook CD is 16/44.1.
But, must admit that, IME, the better the kit, the more noticeable the difference 'tween SACD vs CD. Which is very unfortunate, very frustrating and potentially ruinous ...
What sort of music do you enjoy, and do you have surround sound and/or stereo?
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