Why haven't audiophiles enthusiastically endorsed the SACD?

[blackraven]

If you want great CD sound of older remastered Cd's, take a listen to XRCD's. All the older recordings from the 60's and 70's that I have bought on XRCD's especially the XRCD24's are excellent. But you will pay out the nose for them, $25-35, well worth it for me.

And I'll say it again. I'll put my Van Alstine DAC up ugainst the Marantz 8001/8003 any day. The sound is more dynamic, smoother, transparent with a huge sound stage and greater resolution and clarity compared to the Marantz units playing SACD. But as Emaidel pointed out, the DAC cost me $1700.

[elapsed]

If you want great CD sound of older remastered Cd's, take a listen to XRCD's. All the older recordings from the 60's and 70's that I have bought on XRCD's especially the XRCD24's are excellent. But you will pay out the nose for them, $25-35, well worth it for me.

First I've heard of XRCD, can this play on any CD Player? How does it compare to HDCD?

cheers,
elapsed

[emaidel]

I'll put my Van Alstine DAC up ugainst the Marantz 8001/8003 any day. The sound is more dynamic, smoother, transparent with a huge sound stage and greater resolution and clarity compared to the Marantz units playing SACD. But as Emaidel pointed out, the DAC cost me $1700.

AND, there's the cost of your CD player too. You once were using a Cambridge Audio unit that retailed for $1,400 - are you still using that? If so, the combination of the two is over $3,000. That's much too rich for my blood,as it's more than three times the price of either the 8001 or 8003. I guess a fairer comparison would be your Van Alstine DAC and your CDP put up against a similarly priced SACD player, but I have no idea which player that would be, but such a comparison would be interesting, no?

I own two "Legacy" CD's I purchased back in the 90's that are gold in color, and have "SBM/Super Bit Mapping" written on their jackets. One is the jazz classic, "Time Out" by Dave Brubeck and the other is Santana's first album. As I recall, I paid about $25 for each of them. Both sound wonderful, and much, much better than their "standard, redbook" counterparts. Are these similar to the XR discs you're referring to?