HiRez Poll Depeche Mode - VIOLATOR [SACD]

Arghh! Confusing. Thanks for the tip!

Do you think there are copies with the "DMCD" catalogue numbers (no "X") that actually contain red book CDs?

LivingForever said:

Arghh! Confusing. Thanks for the tip!

Do you think there are copies with the "DMCD" catalogue numbers (no "X") that actually contain red book CDs?

Click to expand...

Definitely! I've bought 4 of them and found a good few more in the years since!

The only way to be 100% sure is to find them used/open and inspect the CDs for the Dots & SACD Logo!
I just did it myself this afternoon and picked up 4 used DM Collectors Eds with the SACDs in all of them (£6 each!!).

My first DMCD1/0094635797923 (Speak & Spell) had a redbook CD inside instead of the SACD.. I gave it away.
The next copy I found, used this time, looked inside and that too had no SACD!

Same story with Music for The Masses.. No SACD where there should have been, only redbook..

Just last week in a music shop on Berwick Street they had three DM Collectors Ed's, (Construction Time, Black Celebration & Reward) all used, all in the dotty perspex slipcases, all with SACD logo's on the back.. but with redbook not SACD discs inside all three of them..!! I think the guy behind the counter thought I was mad when I tried to explain the (crazy) situation and he had to put them all back on the shelves again..!!

fredblue said:

if it has all white dots on the CD label, it is the SACD.. plus it's got the teeny-tiniest SACD logo on it, that is often nigh-on impossible to see but it's there!

Click to expand...

My Violator CD has all black dots and it is SACD.

Check the label.
If it is Rhino, it's RedBook.

wavelength said:

My Violator CD has all black dots and it is SACD.

Click to expand...

white dots/black dots, it don't matter if they're black or white!

any kind of dots = SACD.

no dots at all and it's the redbook.

LivingForever said:

Arghh! Confusing. Thanks for the tip!

Do you think there are copies with the "DMCD" catalogue numbers (no "X") that actually contain red book CDs?

Click to expand...

If you look in the photo albums in my profile on here Living Forever, I've taken pics for you of some of my Depeche Mode SACDs, with close ups of the tiny logos & the dotty discs etc in the photo album "Depeche Mode SACD Pics". The pics have been compressed down significantly in uploading them to QQ but if you really look closely you can see the Dots & logos (the logos are minuscule and printed only in relief on the discs themselves in most instances on these SACDs which, while arty/stylish maybe, I think was totally ridiculous..!! Anyhoo..

fredblue said:

white dots/black dots, it don't matter if they're black or white!

any kind of dots = SACD.

no dots at all and it's the redbook.

Click to expand...

I'm still not buying the dot theory. My Black Celebration has yellow dots and it is CD.

Got plenty of 'em with dots that are CD...start again!

wavelength said:

I'm still not buying the dot theory. My Black Celebration has yellow dots and it is CD.

Click to expand...

ok, my apologies for the bum steer. so, the dots are meaningless!

i guess, ultimately, the only way to be 100% sure is by finding the teeny tiny weeny little (so small you'd miss it) SACD logo on the disc itself!?

I say this because I have had all sorts of weird configurations with this set, including redbook CDs in SACD marked packaging. i got rid of them all or rejected them as soon as I saw they were not SACD so i can't recall if they had dots, i guess they did have dots too then, in the end! all very odd.

are the CDs gold on the playing side like the SACDs or only silver? that might be another way to tell but i can't say as i don't have any redbook Collectors Ed's anymore..?!?

regardless, it still requires you to remove the shrink wrap and check inside the packaging. major pain in the derriere.

kap'n krunch said:

Got plenty of 'em with dots that are CD...start again!

Click to expand...

haha.. i think you just have to find a used set, check it for the SACD logo on the disc itself and be done with it..!?

fredblue said:

i guess, ultimately, the only way to be 100% sure is by finding the teeny tiny weeny little (so small you'd miss it) SACD logo on the disc itself!?

Click to expand...

And that is something that I was not aware of until you mentioned it. I always wondered why my Violator disc that clearly says "CD" on the label is in fact a SACD. I had to get out a magnifying glass but yup the SCAD label and the box with Multi-ch over Stereo are both there. Mystery solved. Thanks buddy!

wavelength said:

And that is something that I was not aware of until you mentioned it. I always wondered why my Violator disc that clearly says "CD" on the label is in fact a SACD. I had to get out a magnifying glass but yup the SCAD label and the box with Multi-ch over Stereo are both there. Mystery solved. Thanks buddy!

Click to expand...

you're very welcome, Wavelength!

I don't know what possessed Mute to make the info so hard to find on these (or who there had the bright idea to, annoyingly, substitute the SACDs for redbook at some point.. but retain the SACD packaging!) ..but there you go..

I took a good few pics earlier of the 6 "Collectors' Eds" I have so far that are definitely SACD and uploaded them to my photo album on here, primarily so Living Forever could have a reference.

they all have the (virtually pin-head sized) SACD & Stereo/Multi logos on them but they're so small and my iPad camera so poor with detail (plus they've been compressed 10:1 uploading them on QQ) that you can hardly make them out at all in the pics now..!

Great stuff, thanks Fred- next time I'm at my laptop I will check it out.

Of course the other way to immediately see that they're SACD is the gold-ish tint to the playing surface of the disc.

Hey, did you say you picked up another 3 SACDs this afternoon? Does that mean you have spares to sell?!

Well, as I've mentioned before, I've bought and sold many a copies of "Black Celebration" on SACD and still have quite a few of those titles on SACD even though I very rarely play the SACD since , to my ears , the DTS 96/24 sounds better, so I really don't care about the SACD versions...but that's just my personal opinion (and other member's too)

you see, since there are new members here, I posted a while ago the frequency spectrum of 2 SACDs that I sold which I recorded through the "analog out" in 96/24 into my MOTU 828 (Groove Armada's "Vertigo" and BOC's "AOF"), only to confirm what Neil had stated before ..there is NOTHING above 20K (BOC) or 22K(GA), nada, zilch...just random noise!!!
As opposed to the DTS 96/24 versions that DO have musical info above 20K+...

I do not want to burst anyone's bubble, and I STILL enjoy SACDs, but now I realize that they are like multichannel CDs, and are not to be confused with high resolution stuff.
And besides , we wouldn't have got a LOT of GREAT MCH stuff if it hadn't been for SACDs..

Just my .02 Euro cents opinion...

****EDIT****
link to the thread

^ I'm glad to read this comment, as I received my copy today (a little late for the thread, but oh well!), and no sacd for me. Strangely though, the DVD, even though marked as PAL, works in my DVD player, and is magical. 9/10, only because some of the songs have stunning mixes, while others less so.

danedanedane said:

^ I'm glad to read this comment, as I received my copy today (a little late for the thread, but oh well!), and no sacd for me. Strangely though, the DVD, even though marked as PAL, works in my DVD player, and is magical. 9/10, only because some of the songs have stunning mixes, while others less so.

Click to expand...

oh no! I'm sorry to hear the same thing happened to you! does yours have the SA-CD logo on the back of the case? my first one did have the SA-CD logo on the back of the digipak but it was just the regular CD inside. the next one I bought was the SA-CD though! yeay!

glad you're enjoying it! great mixes! we were SO lucky to have got all these DM albums in surround!!

No, no SACD logos whatsoever...unlike what the shop selling it claimed. I won't bother returning because the price was good, and the DTS mix enjoyable (with nothing to compare it to of course).

Ps. Welcome to QQ, danedanedane :friday:

danedanedane said:

No, no SACD logos whatsoever...unlike what the shop selling it claimed. I won't bother returning because the price was good, and the DTS mix enjoyable (with nothing to compare it to of course).

Click to expand...

some QQ-ers (who really know their stuff like kap'n krunch, Neil Wilkes, etc.) prefer the sound of the Depeche Mode DTS DVD's to the SA-CD's anyway! ..but that's a whole different can of 5.1 worms I'm not sure I want to open right now..!!! @:

danedanedane said:

No, no SACD logos whatsoever...unlike what the shop selling it claimed. I won't bother returning because the price was good, and the DTS mix enjoyable (with nothing to compare it to of course).

Click to expand...

Did you play the "CD"? My Violator disc that is labelled "CD" actually displays SACD in the player - because it is SACD.