[Mr Quint]

Just been looking at the War Of The Worlds SACD package on play.com,
I was wondering, if i where to play this disc on my Pioneer 717 DVD player would i be able to play the 5.1 track or is that just for people with a SACD player?????

HELP

[PJTX100]

5.1 is SACD only, hence if the 717 can't decode SACD then you'll be stuck with stereo...PJ

[FeisalK]

unfortunately just people with a SACD player.

on the plus side, they aren't that expensive these days, but you'll need a receiver with multichannel analog inputs. Universal players are good cuz they let you play DVD-Audios as well

Samsung HD950 (£112)
Pioneer DV-585-A-S (£97)

[Mr Quint]

Thanks for the help fellas,
My yammy amp does have the inputs for 5.1, i had my Denon 5.1 decoder linked to it for my Laser Discs.

Any info on a good SACD player, i do like Pioneer stuff.

[Kevo]

I have a Pioneer 575 (£100 from Richer Sounds), plays SACDs OK and also Pay.com are doing teh Philips 963SA for £140 which I believe has better SACD performance....

http://ws4.richersounds.com/showprod...PION-DV575-SIL

http://www.play.com/play247.asp?pa=s...C&title=649858

[eviljohn2]

Don't discount the normal CD layer which is usually of very good quality too. The WOTW CD is excellent.

[thanley]

FAO Kevo..

Am having probs getting base from my pio 575 using the 5.1 inputs in to a pio xa5ai... optical is fine.. how have you set yours up for SACD ?

thanks in advance..

[JUS]

I have a 575. Bass is fine. Have you set the sub setting to 'on' on both your amp & dvd player?

I think SACD is known for having a lower bass setting than 5.1. I know my amp has a seperate SACD subwoofer db setting. I think the player has one as well if you want to turn it up.

[thanley]

yeah both set to on... cant see anything on either to set the bass for SACD.. am begining to think there is a prob with either the player or the amp.. as everything else it ok.. ho hum.. time to call pio I think!..

[Kevo]

I use 5.1 inputs for SACD and High res DVDA (no other choice) and I have to turn the vol up considerbaly more than I do with optical and DVD, which is a bit of a pain as I have to remember to turn it back down before I play a normal DVD again.

[JUS]

I'm not going to suggest you check your cross over settings as you said they were fine for 5.1. Might be worth swapping cables just to check the one you are using for .1 at the mo is OK.

[thanley]

yeah.. swapped over the cables from JVC gold plated jobbies to cheap as chips RCA cables still no diff..

KEVO you have given me an idea.. there are custom profiles I can create on the pio amp and save them.. so might just try and muck about with the base leves to see if I can raise it and then save it as a SACD profile.. there are so many options and settings with the pio x5ai amp it gets confusing..

again thanks lads for the input..

[Kevo]

On my Sony DB930 amp all EQ and level vol settings are disabled when I select 5.1 inputs (analog), so I'm left with a 'flat/purists' sound.

[thanley]

discovered mine does too.. am going to have to get in touch with Pio as it has to be a prob with the 5.1 outputs.. bought from Richer Sounds last week so at least its still in warranty..

Thanks for your input greatly appreciated..

[the_pauley]

Thanley I'm using the same amp as you with no problems, or need to set up custom settings.

[gwc]

Does this CD have a two channel SACD layer?

[the_pauley]

Yes.

[eviljohn2]

Originally Posted by gwc

Does this CD have a two channel SACD layer?

Out of interest, would it actually be an additional layer or just additional tracks? I know that the SACD and CD layers are seperate but how do they seperate the 5.1 and 2.0 SACD tracks?

[PJTX100]

Originally Posted by eviljohn2

I know that the SACD and CD layers are seperate but how do they seperate the 5.1 and 2.0 SACD tracks?

I think it's the same track. You're just telling the decoder to spit out 2.0 or 5.1

I scan read some probs people are having with the 575 bass out on SACD. The 575 defaults to subwoofer 'off' in the SACD speaker settings so double check that.

Also I agree sub volume is low on SACD. To cater for this I lowered the sub volume on my AV amp to the mid point and turned the sub amp up to compensate. This means you can effectively adjust volume of the sub with the amp's remote rather then fiddling behind the sub...PJ

[eviljohn2]

Originally Posted by PJTX100

I think it's the same track. You're just telling the decoder to spit out 2.0 or 5.1

That makes sense thanks PJ, there's also the option that the L&R channels contain all of the available information and the additional channels just duplicate to give the surround effect.

Not that I even have an SACD player to use.

[FeisalK]

Not sure about that.. I think the 2.0 and 5.1 mixes are always separate from each other i.e. different tracks.

John Atkinson's description of the DSoTM SACD on stereophile.com:
This "fully loaded" SACD includes both multichannel and two-channel mixes encoded with the DSD system on a high-rez SACD layer and a two-channel "Red Book" transfer (16-bit word length, 44.1kHz sampling) on its CD layer. (more)

[the_pauley]

Correct - they are entirely different mixes - nothing to do with decoding.

[bizzibee]

Perhaps this might provide you with the answers you seek:

http://www.superaudio-cd.com/technol...whitepaper.pdf


More info available here as well:

http://www.daisy-laser.com/technolog...d/techsacd.htm

http://www.superaudio-cd.com/

http://www.superaudiocenter.com/

[FeisalK]

thats a useful link bizzibee, thanks

this image on the superaudio-cd.com site is clear

the Philips site image is interesting..

there's space for "Enrichment" - Lyrics, Graphics and Video just like DVD-Audio

[eviljohn2]

It's ingenious I tells ya.

[FeisalK]

its funny. until your question ...

Out of interest, would it actually be an additional layer or just additional tracks?

... I took the technology for granted

[bizzibee]

Originally Posted by FeisalK

thats a useful link bizzibee, thanks

You are very welcome. Here is another interesting read:

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jul9...cdnextgen.html



Also SACD has three disc types

SACD has three disc types:

(1) Single-layer discs can be played back only on a SACD player and hold 4.7GB.

(2) Double-layer disks hold almost twice the data of a regular SACD at 8.54GB.

(3) "Hybrid" discs that contain a single SACD layer (4.7GB) with an additional CD layer (0.74GB), and can be played back in either CD or SACD players.

A standard CD holds 0.74GB of digital data, by contrast the single layer the SACD can store 4.7GB over six times more data. Dual layer discs can store a total of 8.54GB, they have very long running times and can include multi channel applications, video and other applications.

Taken from:

http://www.audiouk.com/sacd.htm

[bradavon78]

Are there any dual layer SACD discs out there? Video on SACD I don't think so.

Originally Posted by eviljohn2

Don't discount the normal CD layer which is usually of very good quality too. The WOTW CD is excellent.

One big plus in my books over DVD-A.

When you've heard High Res. music (DVD-A or SACD). The DTS or DD5.1 mix sounds DREADFUL and I'm no purist at all. It's very obvious. I'd hate to put up with DTS/DD5.1 now.

[ctcrm]

ive got war of the worlds on sacd the 5.1 is very good, but a bit over the top sometimes when the voices move around the sound field.

i listen to it on a sony home cimema system.

[bizzibee]

Originally Posted by bradavon78

Are there any dual layer SACD discs out there?

Yes there are. I think from memory that David Bowie's "Heathen" SACD is a Dual Layered non Hybrid Disc.