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SACD a 5.1 medium?

I'm a two-channel dinosaur, and I wonder if SACD has promise for two-channel, or if it's intrinsically a 5.1/7.1/etc. medium. Most of the SACD discs I've seen are labelled "5.1." Do you need a 5.1 setup to get the good sound? If you ran a 5.1 SACD disc through a two-channel setup, will it sound any better than plain-old redbook?

Jeff
jverona
mgottlieb
334 posts
 
All the multichannel SACDs work fine in two channel, and as far as I'm concerned are a very significant advance over regular CD playback. Upconversion to 24/192 cuts the degree of improvement over CD playback, but not the fact that it is there.
kr4's avatar
kr4
3,424 posts
 
All SACDs have a stereo track. Most are superior to their CD equivalents although that is dependant on the specifics of mastering.
jverona OP
8 posts
 
That's reassuring. It leads me to another question. Say a two-channel master is remixed into multiple channels for SACD. In a traditional two-channel setup, all the information from the master would be sent to the two channels. In the remix, all that information goes into multiple channels. If one were to replay that remixed SACD through the front channels only, would some information be lost?
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