XRCD vs. SACD

I listened to the Tony Bennett/Bill Evans XRCD on my Richard Kern-modified SCD333ES SACD player, which certainly holds it own on redbook playback. (This is my only XRCD listening I've done.) I was struck by the analog sound, very rich; the warmth and emotion of Bennett's voice and Evans' piano really comes through... took me back to days when I had a VPI turntable. Never heard anything else like it on CD/SACD. However, I prefer the sound of the better SACD's, e.g., the Patricia Barber SACD's from Mobile Fidelity, and several other SACD's, too. The detail, imaging, and dynamics are outstanding. But I sure can understand why you might prefer the sound of some of the XRCD's.

It is my humble opinion that SACD has taken off like a heard of turtles. For being around as long as it has, it has gone nowhere and in a few years will be remembered like 8 track, the Sony Elcassette, SQ, QS and Beta.

Another alternative is to seek a CD player that can play HDCD encoded discs. My Arcam FMJ-CD23 can play HDCD discs and they sound better than standard CD's. More natural sound with better dynamics. HDCD is often overlooked and not promoted enough. I do like XRCD's. I have tried a few of JVC's classical re-issues of Fritz Reiner and Chicago Symphony. They are good, but pricey compared to standard priced HDCD discs.

You're asking people to compare apples and oranges. XRCD is a very careful mastering process. SACD is a digital format. If an XRCD mastering job were put on a SACD, it would probably be indistinguishable from a 16-bit disk.

I recently made a direct comparison of the RCA-BMG Fiedler Gaite Parisienne on imported SACD (a hybrid from BMG Hong Kong) with the JVC XRCD reissue. SACD was through my Classe Omega SACD player, a $12,000 player built on the transport of the SCD-1. CD was from the digital outs of the Omega, as transport, to a dCS Purcell upconverter and dCS Elgar. Rsesult: the JVC sounded superb, but the SACD was noticeably warmer, richer and had more of an analogue sound. Same comparison with the RCA-BMG Fiedler High Performance version of the Carmen Suite: the RCA 24 bit transfer sounded in your face superb, but the SACD had all of the same detail and was a bit fuller, richer and had a wider spread. Any negative analysis of SACD made on a $500-$1,000 Sony SACD player versus an Audio Aero Capitole or something like that is playing ostrich and denying that SACD, played back on comparable quality equipment, is simply better than CD, and however poorly initially marketed, deserves to succeed.