OMG what happened...

[JohnMichael]

...my stereo sounds like crap.

I have been very pleased with my stereo with the addition of the JBL Studio 530's. This morning I was playing my favorite recording of Beethoven's "9th Symphony" by the LSO. This morning it was not sounding good.

I began to question the speakers or maybe I need to switch IC's. I even thought maybe I was developing some sinus congestion. I thought of anything that could cause such a change.

The problem was I was playing a hybrid sacd and I did not set the SA8001 for sacd and had been listening to the cd layer. I am glad I figured it out and switched to sacd. All was right again.

I had never played the cd layer of a hybrid sacd before. I always appreciated sacd's before and well recorded cd's but what happened with this cd layer? It was bad enough to cause me to question if my stereo or I were operating properly. Has anyone else noticed such a quality change between sacd and cd?

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

...my stereo sounds like crap.

I have been very pleased with my stereo with the addition of the JBL Studio 530's. This morning I was playing my favorite recording of Beethoven's "9th Symphony" by the LSO. This morning it was not sounding good.

I began to question the speakers or maybe I need to switch IC's. I even thought maybe I was developing some sinus congestion. I thought of anything that could cause such a change.

The problem was I was playing a hybrid sacd and I did not set the SA8001 for sacd and had been listening to the cd layer. I am glad I figured it out and switched to sacd. All was right again.

I had never played the cd layer of a hybrid sacd before. I always appreciated sacd's before and well recorded cd's but what happened with this cd layer? It was bad enough to cause me to question if my stereo or I were operating properly. Has anyone else noticed such a quality change between sacd and cd?

Maybe the CD layer wasn't so bad, but your hearing set the SACD layer as the reference.

I have noticed this difference as well, but only when the master came from DXD, and transferred to SACD. The SACD layer sounded so much better than the CD layer, it was quite noticeable.

[blackraven]

I have always found the Cd layer of a hybrid SACD to sound fantastic. The Cd layer is usually Mastered very well.

[JohnMichael]

Maybe the CD layer wasn't so bad, but your hearing set the SACD layer as the reference.

I have noticed this difference as well, but only when the master came from DXD, and transferred to SACD. The SACD layer sounded so much better than the CD layer, it was quite noticeable.

Thanks for the information. I had no idea there could be that much difference. The SA8001 plays cd's nicely so I was surprised over the lack of focus and detail.

[JohnMichael]

I have always found the Cd layer of a hybrid SACD to sound fantastic. The Cd layer is usually Mastered very well.

I would think they were both from the same DSD master with one SACD and then converted for CD

[emaidel]

As an owner of the same SACD player you have (the Marantz SA-8001), I find your post a bit curious: the player automatically switches to SACD playback whenver a hybid disc is inserted. You have to purposely choose the CD layer if you wish to listen to it.

That being said, whenever I've compared the two layers of any hybrid disc I own, the SACD layer always wins out with the CD layer, in comparison, sounding thin, dry and a bit lifeless. I would imagine that if I had somehow selected the CD layer of a particular hybrid disc I listen to often I too would wonder what had gone wrong. Still, I've never found the CD layer to be downright lousy, since it comes from the DSD master of the hybid recoding, though I would never choose to listen to the CD layer other than for comparison purposes, and then, only for a short time.

[markw]

I've heard slight differences myself but never such a gross difference that ruins a fine piece of music.

Is it possible to try the cd in another player of known quality? Perhaps it's actually a software issue.

[JohnMichael]

As an owner of the same SACD player you have (the Marantz SA-8001), I find your post a bit curious: the player automatically switches to SACD playback whenver a hybid disc is inserted. You have to purposely choose the CD layer if you wish to listen to it.

No my player remains at CD unless I select SACD. It works perfectly and sounds great but SACD is manually selected.

[JohnMichael]

I've heard slight differences myself but never such a gross difference that ruins a fine piece of music.

Is it possible to try the cd in another player of known quality? Perhaps it's actually a software issue.

I think part of the issue is I had always heard the SACD layer. I may be overstating the difference between the Sacd layer and the CD layer but much of the magic was gone.

[filecat13]

One time when I was attempting to show off my little Two Jims Theatre to some guests, I just got the sinking feeling that the whole system wasn't up to par. It looked and sounded good to them, but I just thought, "This looks and sounds like crap." Finally, I couldn't take it anymore and just stopped everything while I fussed around with the gear to see what was wrong. They probably thought I was nuts.

The problem?

In the darkness, I'd put in the DVD rather than the Bluray. No amount of tweaking was going to cure that. Once they saw and heard the Bluray, they understood my nutty behavior.

I've got the multichannel Hybrid SACD of the 9th by the LSO, and I can hardly listen to the stereo recording after hearing the multichannel. The stereo is good enough on its own I suppose, but it seems flat and lifeless when you've heard the other. If that's the one you have, then I don't doubt it's very noticeable (even in stereo).

[JohnMichael]

One time when I was attempting to show off my little Two Jims Theatre to some guests, I just got the sinking feeling that the whole system wasn't up to par. It looked and sounded good to them, but I just thought, "This looks and sounds like crap." Finally, I couldn't take it anymore and just stopped everything while I fussed around with the gear to see what was wrong. They probably thought I was nuts.

The problem?

In the darkness, I'd put in the DVD rather than the Bluray. No amount of tweaking was going to cure that. Once they saw and heard the Bluray, they understood my nutty behavior.

I've got the multichannel Hybrid SACD of the 9th by the LSO, and I can hardly listen to the stereo recording after hearing the multichannel. The stereo is good enough on its own I suppose, but it seems flat and lifeless when you've heard the other. If that's the one you have, then I don't doubt it's very noticeable (even in stereo).

Yes I do have the multi channel sacd and even in stereo the sacd playback is far superior.

[Poultrygeist]

With my SA8004 it's not selectable as far as I can tell. It automatically plays the SACD layer if there's one present and spells out SACD across the view screen.

[JohnMichael]

With my SA8004 it's not selectable as far as I can tell. It automatically plays the SACD layer if there's one present and spells out SACD across the view screen.

My SA8001 has a row of rectangular silver buttons immediately under the display. The far left button is for dimming or turning off the display and the one on the far right is for selecting between SACD or CD. They look more like silver trim than buttons.

When I first received the player I thought it odd that I had to select the SACD layer. I had also read about people having problems with the player not reading certain discs and a noisy transport. My player seemed to not have those problems and the sound was very good so I could easily overlook having to choose the layer I wanted to hear.

[blackraven]

Clearly SACD layers sound better than the CD layer but when I have bought a hybrid SACD and compared the CD layer to a non hybrid SACD version of the same album, the CD layer of the hybrid SACD wins out every time.

[emaidel]

No my player remains at CD unless I select SACD. It works perfectly and sounds great but SACD is manually selected.

I find that strange, but don't doubt you. Perhaps you bought yours before I bought mine, and Marantz made a change in design. The only flaw I've found in the player - and it really irritates me - is the ridiculously slow fast forward and reverse times - only twice the normal playing speed. I've owned many older CD players, and none acted this way. If I want to listen to the last 10 minutes of a 30 minute track, it takes fully 10 minutes of scanning to get there! One would hope that Marantz improved this silly deisgn flaw in their 8003 and 8004 models.