The Oppo has landed

Again, I was not making a negative comparison, but simply pointing out that any differences between layers will be more easily distinguishable on my system.

I know what you meant. No worries.

I am still curious to read your findings once you've had a chance to compare layers. Regardless of the differences you find, I am interested to hear what you think of the CD layer and the effort MoFi put into it.

Tonight, tonight.

Tora, tora!

Premature.

Enthusiastic.

Not so much so, as it turned out, after how long the last three days were. Hopefully I can do some listening tonight. I do have one extra meeting after work, but it should be brief.

There is no rush.

Good thing. Meeting went long again last night.

There's that time thing again.

Well, I just spent some listening time with the disc. I could not figure out how to get the player to read the CD layer, though. The Oppo has an audio switch that lets you switch audio tracks on the fly (for example, from the two channel mix to the multichannel mix.) It does not switch to the CD layer, however. There is an option in the menu to set SACD priority to two channel, multichannel or CD mode. I normally keep that set to stereo, although that is just a priority and you can still switch to multichannel on the fly. Setting it to CD mode does not appear to do anything for some reason. I may have to experiment further.

Don't spend too much time on it. I thought it might be an easy comparison.

The only thing I can think of would be to burn a copy of the disc, as copyright restrictions would only allow you to burn the CD layer. So, when you drop the burned disc into the Oppo, you would be sure that you are getting the CD layer. However, that opens up other variables, including the inability to do a true A-B comparison on the fly. Too much work for inconclusive results.

Thanks for trying.

My previous comments regarding the disc do stand, however. Things like the decay time and the overall "presence" (to use a buzzword) are much improved over any CD version that I have heard. It is still not a sonic masterpiece by any means, but it is the best that I have heard it sound.

I heard similar things on the CD layer on my home system. I was just curious to know how much better the SACD layer was. I will find out eventually!

There should still be a way to access the CD layer via the Oppo. I may have to investigate some more. Now I am curious.

Well, keep in mind what curiosity did to the cat.

All is fair game.

Tell that to the cat.

Yes, but cats are not sacred. Cows are, but there are no sacred cows in audio. I know what I think about SACD vs. CD, and I certainly believe that my experiences have proven it, but there is nothing wrong with challenging those assumptions via listening tests.

Oops. I was just playing with words; I had left our serious part of the conversation. I hope I didn't offend you, as that was not my intention.

In my limited testing, I haven't noticed a difference with the MoFi Stevie Ray Vaughan discs, but then my testing hasn't been done in a way that would allow for any meaningful conclusion. That is why I had asked: because I figured you had the means and the equipment to spot the differences. Incidentally, I did hear a difference between SACD and CD when listening to Divermenti. However, I have no idea if the same master was used for each. In fact, I don't even know if MoFi used the same master for the SACD and CD layers. Have they stated as such?

Huh? No offense, I was just responding in kind.


In most cases, the masters would be identical. There is no reason to do a seperate master. Of course, unless the master is at the same native resolution as the playback format, some kind of conversion is involved (such as converting a 24bit/96khz recording to the redbook CD 16 bit/44.1khz.) That conversion is what is used to press the final product, so in a way even if they are derived from the same master recording, there is a essentially a different master used to press the different discs. And the process of converting from the master to the resolution of the final product is not exactly foolproof.

Well, if you find out a way to test, let me know what you hear. I'm curious.

Incidentally, the Egyptians worshipped cats. Not quite sacred, but better than nothing.

Good point.


I noticed while I was listening to music on my drive home that the sound was muffled. I fiddled with the settings before I realized that it was not the sound system but rather my hearing. I think that I temporarily lost some high end after the crack in the jaw, so there will probably be no critical listening tonight!

Has your full range of hearing returned?

I think so, yes. I had a heckuva headache the next day, but it cleared up after that.