Hearing concert hall sound again!

I haven't been able to listen to my multi-channel SACDs for a couple of years since my old Oppo quit playing them. I still wasn't hearing when I upgrade to a Blu-ray Panasonic and an Onkyo TX-SR580 receiver.

The old Oppo output 5.1 channel m/c via analog to my old Panny receiver, and that was enough to convince me of the benefits of m/c sound -- something reminiscent of a concert hall experience that you just don't get from stereo.

I missed that so I went out and got a low-cost Sony BDP-S580 that does play SACD outputting via HDMI. The Sony selectively outputs either DSD or PCM which is good because low to medium range receivers such as my Onkyo only handle PCM. The good new is that PCM input can be subject to full DSP treatment, including in my Onkyo's case, Audessey 2EQ.

Now I'm back listening to m/c, this time better than ever and closer than ever to real concert hall sound. Yesteday afternoon I listened to some very fine examples:

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Feanor,
Just wait till you hear classical music on the Bluray format. Lately I have been listening to a lot of multichannel classical music. It is cool to feel transported into a church in Germany, or a concert hall in Switzerland. I feel like I have travelled to hear good music, as some recording are so good, it really is like you are there.

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Originally Posted by Sir Terrence the Terrible

Feanor,
Just wait till you hear classical music on the Bluray format. Lately I have been listening to a lot of multichannel classical music. It is cool to feel transported into a church in Germany, or a concert hall in Switzerland. I feel like I have travelled to hear good music, as some recording are so good, it really is like you are there.

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Sir T, looks like more & more Blu-ray classical is turning up and I'll be looking for titles that will complement my collection.

Right now I have no pure music Blu-rays, only a performance video and an opera. They are both great:

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It seems to me that the SACD selection is still much large, (for classical music), than the Blu-ray, and the latter is still a bit more expensive.

But SACD or Blu-ray, the multi-channel experience is still a whole new and expanded experience vs. stereo. DSP time delay & equalization make the experience all that much more real. SACD was originally designed without consideration for DSP, (as I understand), but this is now available with very modestly priced equipment such as mine.

I also found some great blu-rays reviews on naxos.com.

Sorry to hear your Oppo died. What model was it and how old was it? Just curious.

Worf

great timing I just got my oppo 93 in the mail last week and one of the main reason is to play scad disks. I only have a few (Dire Straits, Pink Floyd, Mile Davis and the lovely 9th by LVB but I want to expand my horizons with more classical.

However I do notice a range in sound quality, a couple of my scad's do not really sound all that much better so the reviews will be helpful.

I also want to try the bluray music.

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Originally Posted by Worf101

Sorry to hear your Oppo died. What model was it and how old was it? Just curious.

Worf

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As I recall, it was a DV980, maybe; it's long gone now. I don't recall that it had HDMI, but then I didn't have an HDMI receiver at the time either.

I think it's important to take advantage of the EQ and time delay facilities of your receiver, therefore the best (or only?) route is to let your player do a DSD to PCM conversion and output via HDMI.

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Originally Posted by lomarica

great timing I just got my oppo 93 in the mail last week and one of the main reason is to play scad disks. I only have a few (Dire Straits, Pink Floyd, Mile Davis and the lovely 9th by LVB but I want to expand my horizons with more classical.

However I do notice a range in sound quality, a couple of my scad's do not really sound all that much better so the reviews will be helpful.

I also want to try the bluray music.

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IO, I don't have a huge SACD collection myself, (unfortunately), but there is an excellent selection of Classical music on SACD.

In general terms, you'll get better sound from recordings made originally for multi-channel SACD rather than remasters of old recordings, e.g. from Deutsche Grammophon, Mercury, or RCA Living Stereo.

ArkivMusic has a huge select of Classical on SACD. Their http://www.arkivmusic.com/graphics/a...mendation2.gif recordings are pretty reliably good, though the recommendation can be more for performance than sound: see HERE.

BTW, for my personal list of 250 core classical works, (but not specific recordings), check HERE. For a much shorter list including recording suggestions, check HERE, (but these are mostly not SACD).

I'll take a look at your lists

a good label to investigate is 2L:

2L - the Nordic Sound

sacd and blu are available. my first contact was 'immortal nystedt' first heard on kcrw.org. ethereal choral music. i bought it right away. it seems to only be available on hybrid sacd.

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Originally Posted by hifitommy

a good label to investigate is 2L:

2L - the Nordic Sound

sacd and blu are available. my first contact was 'immortal nystedt' first heard on kcrw.org. ethereal choral music. i bought it right away. it seems to only be available on hybrid sacd.

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Their offerings do look interesting, HFT. Thanks.

agreed:smilewinkgrin:

Your post is close to my problem which I just discovered when I tried to play Black Swan (Blu Ray) on my Oppo - 83 and got nothing but noise. I found it was set to bitstream output and when I changed it to LPCM and 2 channel out everything cleared up. Unfortunately I am confined to a 2 channel system in my apartment. Do I need to get a new preamp to handle bitstream at 192K? I am using an optical out into an Audio Alchemy DAC.

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Originally Posted by zolarsystem

Your post is close to my problem which I just discovered when I tried to play Black Swan (Blu Ray) on my Oppo - 83 and got nothing but noise. I found it was set to bitstream output and when I changed it to LPCM and 2 channel out everything cleared up. Unfortunately I am confined to a 2 channel system in my apartment. Do I need to get a new preamp to handle bitstream at 192K? I am using an optical out into an Audio Alchemy DAC.

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Hi, Zolar.

I'm really not sure. By "bitstream" I'm guessing you mean the native format of the source, i.e. Dolby Digital or DTS,etc., rather than that decoded to PCM. Most likely you will need a new receiver or preamp capbable of which ever native Blu-ray is providing. Can you provide more info on your present preamp, receiver, or whatever you're using?

good music man, love them !