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Sacd playback question

S

Silversniper

New Member
Hello!

Today, I've decided to reconnect my old Pioneer Elite DV-45A (which is a DVD player with sacd capabilities) to try playing a brand new hybrid sacd I found for dirt cheap yesterday. My question is the following; since it is a hybrid sacd, it can be played on regular CD player too, so how do I know if my player is reading the regular cd layer or the sacd one? Is it a good sacd player too?
 
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A hybrid disk will play in either a regular CD or an SACD player. Your Pioneer should have a light (or display) to indicate what kind of disk it is reading.
 
Hybrid SACD's can be played on a regular CD player and it wil play the redbook layer.

As for your SACD player, it should offer you a choice of which layer to play, assuming it doesn't automatically go for the SACD layer. Now, you might want to check your players documentation to see if it defaults to 6 channels when they are available.
 
The number of channels on SACD playback is probably a setting in your SACD player -- you should choose one depending on your audio system. I have a two-channel standard stereo and had to choose a mixing option to blend the various SACD channels.
 
So if you play the sacd layer with an sacd player driven by a two-channel amp do you hear all sacd channels funneled through the Left & Right?
 
meggy said:
So if you play the sacd layer with an sacd player driven by a two-channel amp do you hear all sacd channels but funneled through two (Left & Right)?
Click to expand...

Again, that should be a setting on the player -- you get to tell the player how to blend the channels, but yes: that's right, you do get all the information on the SACD routed through your two channels.
 
I had the Pioneer when it came out. A nice unit, but it suffered from the dreaded "add-a-gap" that would drive me crazy during Hotel California's, Wasted Time.

For three months Pioneer had it in the shop trying to "fix" this flaw in the technology/firmware/software. Ultimately, they refunded my money in full and I bought the Yamaha (without the add-a-gap flaw), that also had better specs.
 
As I recall on the DV-45, the only indication that you are playing the SACD layer is a small red indicator on the display that reads '5.1' . You do have to go into the setup for the player to tell it which layer to read by default, and I believe that you have to do that when the disk tray is empty.
 
meggy said:
So if you play the sacd layer with an sacd player driven by a two-channel amp do you hear all sacd channels funneled through the Left & Right?
Click to expand...

mr_fred said:
Again, that should be a setting on the player -- you get to tell the player how to blend the channels, but yes: that's right, you do get all the information on the SACD routed through your two channels.
Click to expand...

I think there is a bit of confusion here. You shouldn't be hearing "all the SACD channels" funneled through left and right. You should just be selecting the 2 channel mix.
The setting that is important for 2 channel users, is to make sure that the player defaults to the 2 channel mix and not the multi-channel mix.
 
Make sure you are using the player's analog outs...NOT a digital coax or optical out. SACD cannot be passed with those digital connections.
 
KrisM said:
I think there is a bit of confusion here. You shouldn't be hearing "all the SACD channels" funneled through left and right. You should just be selecting the 2 channel mix.
The setting that is important for 2 channel users, is to make sure that the player defaults to the 2 channel mix and not the multi-channel mix.
Click to expand...

That is a much better way to explain it -- you need to access the two-channel mix (and my assumption was that the producers of the SACD would have ensured that all the information in a multi-channel mix was respected in the two-channel mix -- that's what I was trying to say :D)
 
So I'm assuming your playing the SACD through a HTS. Most Hybrid SACD's I have , include a multi channel layer. I use my 45A for 2 channel playback through my stereo system. With the unit connected to a monitor, I disabled the digital output, and under SACD playback, I selected 2 channel area. In this mode, it will search for the SACD layer first, then the CD layer. For standard CD, the unit will go directly to the CD area. There is a Multi-ch area also, I have not tried , as I have this unit going into a 2 channel receiver. And as mentioned above, connect using the RCA analog in/outs.

Edit: I recently got this unit off flea bay, and started testing the waters in SACD's. I find the SQ to really be better than standard CD's.
 
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Another thing to keep in mind: SACD does not automatically connote multi-channel. Most SACDs are two channels. You'll hear those out of your front right and left, just like a regular CD
 
Markw said:
Another thing to keep in mind: SACD does not automatically connote multi-channel. Most SACDs are two channels. You'll hear those out of your front right and left, just like a regular CD
Click to expand...

+1 on this. SACD originally was 2 channel only. It wasn't until later that they began to offer multi channel versions.
 
I just got my first SACD. What is the best way to connect my player? I'm using a Sony Blu Ray but my Sony receiver can't handle DSD. My Blu Ray player does have analog RCA outputs. Is that the better way to go ?


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Thanks. Is RCA preferable to HDMI in this situation? I assume I'm avoiding converting from DSD to PCM this way.


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In your case it is, HDMI would be fine only if your receiver could handle DSD and your player could send DSD via HDMI.

Note on 2CH/MCH SACDs: on some hybrid SACDs, the MCH layer has more tracks than the 2CH layer. In these cases it makes sense to select MCH layer downmixed to 2 channels to be able to listen to the extra tracks on a 2 channel system. Example is Deep Purple 'Machine Head' SACD, 7 tracks on redbook and stereo SACD layers, 10 tracks on the MCH layer. So if you want to listen to 'When A Blind Man Cries' in hi-rez stereo, you have to downmix the MCH layer.
 
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