Must -have SACD's

I just received Mike Oldfield "Tubular bells", very fun. I think this music was composed by Mike 30 years to soon, clearly SACD on a Hi-fi system is what he had in mind.
I also picked up Monks' "straight no chaser" very clean, low tape noise, great drum and sax reproduction. The base is a bit light, maybe too far from the mike during recording and Monks' piano sounds a tad distant, and has a '40s sound quality, not tinny just not right. All in all a good disk and worth the money if you like Monk. I also got a couple DMP disks, I'll let you know after I try them out. J.D.

Good post, Niels. I must say, if the difference between the CD playback and the SACD playback is that subtle ("I think I can actually hear the improvement"), what's the point of SACD? With the high price of the software, it ought to hit you over the head with improvement. I find the differences a little more dramatic personally, but I think Niels's post is interesting.

Drubin: Thanks. I clearly hear the difference, as evident from my 13 out of 15 listening test success. I tried to distinguish between 'different' and 'better'.

Quantifying exactly what is better is what I was having some issues with, but I have that one worked out as well now. The bass is tighter, the piano sounds more real, the stereo image is better. Overall, the music is more engaging and has more presence. So, I will on record now as saying SACD does sound better, a lot better. The piano is probably the most obvious example. The drum solos are just 10 times better on SACD, the detail in the cymbals is very much more present.

(And in all honesty, I have plenty of SACD's that I do not care for, the recordings are just not that good that they utilize SACD to the fullest. The last thing I need is even higher quality tape hiss... :)

Niels.

Can anyone point to a site that has a complete list of SACD recordings?

Good question. Sony and Philips should have such a site, as Pacific Microsonics has for HDCD for years. Acoustic Sounds, the audiophile software retailer in Kansas, has a pretty good list, but not exhaustive.