DVD Audio (It really is in the source)

Bjorne and Max

Looks like we will have to agree to differ. Hopefully, in due course, others will contribute and we will get a wider range of opinions.

As a final offering I would say that the Naim CD5 is a great player - as was the CD3.5 which I owned and enjoyed. I also still own and enjoy using a Nait 3. The upgrades I have however made to my main system have significantly improved it.

Hope you continue to enjoy your Naim systems.

Terry

Well, all I can say is that my step up from CD3.5/HiCap to CDX was significant - there was more detail, subtlety, rhythm and bass there.
If I were to try to draw a parallel to LP upgrades, I'd say it was similar to a Basik to Ittok upgrade.

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Originally posted by prowla:
Well, all I can say is that my step up from CD3.5/HiCap to CDX was significant - there was more detail, subtlety, rhythm and bass there.
If I were to try to draw a parallel to LP upgrades, I'd say it was similar to a Basik to Ittok upgrade.

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Hi All

Can't agree more. If I can just relate my experiences with a very recent change from Micromega stage5 to Linn Mimik. Both SH and about the same age and price band I guess as I don't know the price of a Stage5 when it came out. Firstly their was little difference tonally or in the frequency extremes,no higher highs and no lower lows, but a big difference, to my ears at least, in the music. The Linn has much better control at the bottom end and bass lines are much easier to follow and differentiate. Also bass guitar strings now ring true and I am more aware of technique employed in playing. Also in the midrange the instruments have a much greater clarity, brass has a real brassy rasp to it that the micromega failed to capture. Vocals are much easier on the ear and inflections and raw emotion are coming through. Overall the linn is just more musically and rythmically involving. I've been off work the past few days, continental shifts, and my system has been on constantly for 12 hours a day and I'm luxuriating in the music. The point I'm trying to get across here is that the differences beteween CDPs are rarely as big as those between speakers, and it may be that some peoples expecations in going from, say, a £1000 player to a £2000 player would be the same as going between speakers at these prices but that it doesn't necessarily follow. The changes I've experienced if duplicated between a CD5 and CDX2 would seem more than worth the money.To me the changes highlight the fundamentals that turn sounds into music. Unfortunately now I know that I've really got to listen to the likes of CDX and that poverty will be with me for ever.

Yours in Music

Syd

Being the owner of a mullet sistem, I have to say that I never intended to upgrade from the back, but it just happened when I wasn't looking. The outcome however, is that as you get towards the front, the changes and improvements begin to get massive. I've had an army of amps and speakers sitting around playing cards while waiting for the first assault, but boy when it comes - are they ready! I am sure that improvements to the front end have to have a chance of being heard - the subtleties can be otherwise not appreciated. And we are talking refinement – not slap you around the head stuff.
What I was going to say, was that surely paying for a play everything machine like the Pie’n’ear 656A (DVD-A & SACD + DVD Video) would at least allow a collection to be established ready for Naim to enter with a player (I mean as well as a "proper" CD player). Don’t forget that the guys & girls are now producing AV stuff at last. You don’t imagine they would be doing that without adding a player to go with it, do you!

NO-NAIM.....YEAH..NO...LOUD IN HERE ISN'T IT...WHAT?..

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Originally posted by Mr_Sukebe:
Greeny>

What I'm saying is that you should be comparing a £130 SACD using SACDs against a Naim CDP.

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Mr S,

I have heard a £130 Sony SACD player against a CDS2 (into SBLs).

The 'sound' was OK, but the music held no interest at all.

I have also heard the same player (playing CDs) into ESL 57s, and a CD3 completely smoked it.

I also know someone (posts here as SJB) who bought into the SACD thing fairly heavily. He has now sold his Sony SCD-1 and is buying an up-scale CD player.

cheers, Martin

E-mail:- MartinPayne at Dial.Pipex.com

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Originally posted by Frank Abela:
I don't know where you get your facts from. My understanding about this is that DVD-A is theoretically the more advanced encoding mechanism since it isn't bitstream-based in the way all SACD masters have to be. In fact, it is SACD which is the CD based solution and was mainly introduced by Sony/Philips to try to protect their revenues since the CD patents were running out.

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Frank,

both DVD-A and SACD are encoded on DVD discs. Other than this, your info is fine.

DVD-A is a 24/96x6 channel or 24/192x2 channel version of CD.

SACD uses a much simpler form of encoding, which is technically worse than CD in certain minor ways, and is much worse in the level of ultrasonic noise generated.

cheers, Martin

E-mail:- MartinPayne at Dial.Pipex.com

I have the £120 Sony SACD player and I love it. I have steered clear of the older reissues and bought the fairly newer releases like Norah Jones, Ryan Adams, The Stones etc[ mostly from the tower records website] and I think they sound really good.
I use a CD5 for CD duties and it is better overall but the potential benefits of sacd are quite apparent in its clarity and presence and I will be buying more releases on sacd and the next source upgrade will be a sacd compatible player preferibly the rumoured Naim one, which will interest me far more than the cdx2 or cds.

So alex, how do you think the Sony SACD player fairs against the CD5 with the CD5 playing a CD, and the Sony playing an SACD?

Could someone (Alex?) be a bit more specific regarding this "£120 Sony SACD player" please. Just out of curiosity of course...

Martin,

Thanks for clarifying my post. I knew that the discs are really DVD discs,but wanted to convey how much more closely SACD is to CD than DVD-A is to DVD-V. In the process, I think I lost the wood for the trees....

Regards,
Frank.
All opinions are my own and do not reflect the opinion of any organisations I work for, except where this is stated explicitly.

Its the Sony SCD-X670 2nd gen SACD player bought from Richer Sounds, I think the normal retail was £300 when it came out.

In the comparison with the Cd5 it isnt totally outclassed, I would say the Sony playing sacds is smoother, more ambient information, clarity is a strong point and with good presence.
The CD5 has more drive and better bass definition but sounds harder though its more entertaining to listen to.

I would be interested to hear the higher end sacd players.
The cheapo sony is regularly advertised in What hi fi in the richer sounds advert. At £120 its a bargain.

Alex>

So would I be right in saying that your £120 Sony 670 is effectively on par with the CD5, just different as against worse (assuming it's playing SACDs and not CDs).

Today I decided, as a result of this thread, to buy some discs (SACD and DVD-A) for which I already had good quality CDs. I decided that it would from a light pop genre. I wanted to do a comparison with my Pioneer 656A DVD player and my CDSII. I went through my collection of CDs and picked out a few including Nora Jones and Eva Cassidy. After a fruitless 30 minutes online search (Amazon, HMV, Virgin) and a call to HMV I realised that it wasn't going to be easy. No SACD and no DVD-A for any of my selected discs. I will think again and perhaps go the jazz or Classical route to enable me to conduct the test.

I guess there is good reason to stick with a good quality CD player.

Had a session with my old Rega p3 last night and I have to reiterate the value of the vinyl medium. Quality at a fraction of the cost.

Terry

Love my P3
Love my CD5

I can get lots of good new or used CD's and LP's plus my own collection.

Love my DVD-V player and have loads of films. It is also DVD-A player. Software? Is there any? Certainly none that I've bothered to get.

A friend owns an SACD player. Software?

And I'm an early adopting technophile!

Seth
Is Naim the only way forward?
Ahh, Ahh! I'm burning!!

"It is also DVD-A player. Software? Is there any? Certainly none that I've bothered to get"

Here's a bunch, check it out.

http://www.amusicdirect.com/products/swsearch.asp?dmSearchBy=category&srch=70

I've noticed quite a bit of new big releases coming out on DVD-A, the new Fleetwood Mac and Steely Dan, more worthwhile than the comparable CD. The stereo version is high resolution digital, what CD redbook should have been.

How many folks are using 1K + DVD players?