Multichannel SACDs with the Best Sound

As I have "threatened" previously, I wanted to start a thread (MODS, move it wherever you think it's appropriate) to find which SACD are actually REALLY HIGH REZ!!!
In the beginning I lost my faith on SACDs because most of the SACDs had a freq cut-off at about 22-23K , which , to me is NOT HI REZ....

But then , I listened to a few that got my ear cillia tickling in the "right way", so I decided to record their output in 96/24 and ... well, there ARE REAL Hi rez SACDs out there..
I'll try to stick to MCH ones, but I found out that some Stereo ones are also REAL HI REZ so here's my list which will grow..and , of course , please chime in and let us know what are the real McCoys out there...

NOT HI REZ:
Blue Oyster Cult- Agents of Fortune
Groove Armada-Vertigo

REAL Hi-Rez:
Tomita- The planets (2014 edition)

(on a separate note; I found out that Queen's SHM SACD Japanese editions of their First LP up to "Flash Gordon"-Including "The Game" ARE REAL HI REZ , but alas, they are Stereo)

I guess the question would be how do you define "real Hi Rez".
Would these be SACDs from an Analog or DSD recording? Or ones that sound good? Or both?

And how do you determine that the ones listed are "not real?" Was this strictly ear evaluation, or reports elsewhere, or some other source or method? Is there a definitive technical evaluation that can be performed?

This is a good thread to inform potential buyers!

bmoura said:

I guess the question would be how do you define "real Hi Rez".
Would these be SACDs from an Analog or DSD recording? Or ones that sound good? Or both?

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My suggestion is to highlight the Multichannel SACDs that sound good on your system. That is always interesting!

I'm kind of on the fence about this (but almost too ambivalent to care anymore!)... especially since numerous Surround SACDs said to be from 44.1kHz sources, or at least with no discernible Hi-res content (Jeff Beck/Blow By Blow, Isley Brothers/3+3, Earth Wind & Fire/Gratitude) are among my all-time favourites!

Sure see lots of negative comments about Blue Oyster Cult- Agents of Fortune but I've never heard any problems with this on my system, except back when I was using a Denon 2900 but that was a hardware problem.

cupboy said:

Sure see lots of negative comments about Blue Oyster Cult- Agents of Fortune but I've never heard any problems with this on my system, except back when I was using a Denon 2900 but that was a hardware problem.

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I rather like it.. could it be bettered mixwise and soundwise? Probably.. I still enjoy it for what it is and always thought the criticism levelled at it a bit harsh.. if the 5.1 were to come out now I think it might be better received, I've heard many worse surround music discs..

It's easy...
just take the output of the analog outs(or any other way you can sample them at 96/26 or 88.2/24) of your SACD player and find out if they have any USABLE signal above that...

C'mon fellow Q-heads, you know what I'm talkin' 'bout: cutoff at 22-23K= NOT Hi rez...a USABLE signal ABOVE 22-23K WITHOUT A CUTOFF is HI REZ

Case in point ..Queen's "Fat bottom girls" from their "Jazz" SHM SACD Japanese pressing
Don't tell me you CAN'T SEE IT!!! It's there...

But,can you hear it?

Keep at this, Kap'n!
I for one am very interested to see whether or not the cutoff frequency on these discs is between 20-25kHz, which would indicate a PCM source with a sampling rate of 48 kHz or less.

perzon57 said:

But,can you hear it?

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The salient point?

How is 'content' that is beyond the range of human audibility 'usable'?

Plenty of people who love good recordings love plenty of releases that have no 'usable' content above 22-24kHz. That's because it's the mastering that matters, not the colors on a spectrogram above 20kHz.

(Btw a 22-24 cutoff doesn't necessarily mean the recording was at 44 or 48kHz. It could mean the original 'hi rez' recording was lowpass filtered at some point in production.)

fredblue said:

I'm kind of on the fence about this (but almost too ambivalent to care anymore!)... especially since numerous Surround SACDs said to be from 44.1kHz sources, or at least with no discernible Hi-res content (Jeff Beck/Blow By Blow, Isley Brothers/3+3, Earth Wind & Fire/Gratitude) are among my all-time favourites!

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There can be a difference between the artists and albums listeners like and whether they were recorded in, and are available in high resolution audio - or not. That's why I'd suggest focusing on Multichannel SACDs you enjoy and rate highly for the music and surround mix.

bmoura said:

There can be a difference between the artists and albums listeners like and whether they were recorded in, and are available in high resolution audio - or not. That's why I'd suggest focusing on Multichannel SACDs you enjoy and rate highly for the music and surround mix.

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Sounds like good advice (and I would say that as its just what I've done all along! ) fwiw I only got into SACD thanks to Yellow Brick Road in Surround (music I love in a soundfield I love!) my interest in Hi-Res stereo has only come about subsequently thanks to surround..

fredblue said:

Sounds like good advice (and I would say that as its just what I've done all along! ) fwiw I only got into SACD thanks to Yellow Brick Road in Surround (music I love in a soundfield I love!) my interest in Hi-Res stereo has only come about subsequently thanks to surround..

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I'm sure a lot of people were pulled in by the Elton John Multichannel SACDs. My favorite is Honky Chateau but one of my friends would say the Captain Fantastic Multichannel SACD. Everyone has a favorite!

bmoura said:

I'm sure a lot of people were pulled in by the Elton John Multichannel SACDs. My favorite is Honky Chateau but one of my friends would say the Captain Fantastic Multichannel SACD. Everyone has a favorite!

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Honky Cheateau is amazing in surround! Captain Fantastic is my favourite 5.1

Now I know you get the scoop on a lot of titles.. so I might as well ask.. did you ever get a sneak preview of the 5.1's of Caribou/Westies/Blue Moves/Don't Shoot Me..?

A fellow over at the SHF posted that he had the opportunity to do so (don't recall if it was Gus Skinas or Greg Penny who made the invitation) but couldn't make the trip across the country.

fredblue said:

Honky Cheateau is amazing in surround! Captain Fantastic is my favourite 5.1

Now I know you get the scoop on a lot of titles.. so I might as well ask.. did you ever get a sneak preview of the 5.1's of Caribou/Westies/Blue Moves/Don't Shoot Me..?

A fellow over at the SHF posted that he had the opportunity to do so (don't recall if it was Gus Skinas or Greg Penny who made the invitation) but couldn't make the trip across the country.

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There you go. Another vote for Captain Fantastic!
I have it and like it as well. But Honky Cat in 5.1, well....

On the Elton John 5.1 mixes, I heard them before release while covering a Surround Sound conference as Senior News Editor for High Fidelity Review.
Also got to meet Greg Penny. A lot of fun, check my story on HFR at http://www.highfidelityreview.com/s...w-of-elton-john-surround-sound-sacds-hfr.html

bmoura said:

There you go. Another vote for Captain Fantastic!
I have it and like it as well. But Honky Cat in 5.1, well....

On the Elton John 5.1 mixes, I heard them before release while covering a Surround Sound conference as Senior News Editor for High Fidelity Review.
Also got to meet Greg Penny. A lot of fun, check my story on HFR at http://www.highfidelityreview.com/s...w-of-elton-john-surround-sound-sacds-hfr.html

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:yikes

Please tell me "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" is amazing in 5.1... if I'm never going to hear these at least it'd be nice to know they're as good as what made it out in surround!

fredblue said:

:yikes

Please tell me "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" is amazing in 5.1... if I'm never going to hear these at least it'd be nice to know they're as good as what made it out in surround!

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Unfortunately they only played for us the ones that were later released in Multichannel SACD. So I haven't heard the unreleased songs either.

fredblue said:

I'm kind of on the fence about this (but almost too ambivalent to care anymore!)... especially since numerous Surround SACDs said to be from 44.1kHz sources, or at least with no discernible Hi-res content (Jeff Beck/Blow By Blow, Isley Brothers/3+3, Earth Wind & Fire/Gratitude) are among my all-time favourites!

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That's why the question posed here about being a "real" hi rez product or not is doomed to failure...it's a moot point and misplaced priority...people want good sounding discs..regardless of what format they are on...nobody cares about how the end product was achieved...do you think when someone listens to Avalon they really care about the sampling rate...the source...or the other usual "technical" objections raised by the SACD detractors...if the best sound available is on a CD it's fine with me...most reasonable people are just interested in sound quality...

The ironic part of this "quest" for which SACD's are real hi rez products is that for every disc that is deemed as not being a hi rez product(by the definition supplied here...which is extremely subjective)but sounds very good will only highlight how meaningless this "hi rez" criterion really is...it's already been discussed on this forum and "put to bed" some of the myths surrounding higher sampling rates like 192...I'm not going to rehash that discussion as there is an abundant amount of information on the internet about that misplaced philosophy...