New Releases

[71 dB]

Don't you need surround sound to hear SACD?

No, althou multi-channel sound is the real benefit of SACD as a format compared to CD. Typically SACD discs contain three "layers":

1) CD layer => plays as a regular stereo CD in any CD player
2) Stereo SACD layer => playable only on a SACD player
3) Multichannel SACD layer => playable only on a SACD player, typically 5.0 or 5.1 sound

This kind of discs are called "hybrid" discs and practically almost all SACD releases are like this. The early SACDs tended to have only SACD layer and are not playable on CD player. BIS has some (one?) special release(s) with only stereo SACD layer all bits allocated to store 5 CDs worth of music on just one disc, but this is extremely rare.

I might have this confused with something else but I thought if you only have stereo speakers, you won't ever hear SACD because the standard stereo layer would play instead (but again, I might not be right).  I love the modern BIS and Chandos sound though.  Very clean and tight sound and probably have a slight preference for BIS.

It depends on how you configure your system. I can tell my Blu-ray player which supports SACD to play any of the layers I want (SACD priority: Multi-Channel / Stereo / CD). That said Stereo SACD layer doesn't give you relevant sound quality advantage over CD layer so it doesn't matter much which one you play.

Modern BIS is truly extremely good in this regard and the care they take recording the multichannel sound for these releases show also on the stereo side: Quality downmixed is still quality. 

[Mandryka]

[Madiel]

Modern BIS is truly extremely good in this regard and the care they take recording the multichannel sound for these releases show also on the stereo side: Quality downmixed is still quality. 

Indeed, in my experience, hybrid SACDs (not necessarily BIS, actually I think I have a couple of Da Capo ones) are amongst some of the best-sounding discs on my CD player.

[The new erato]

I tend to think that the extra care I suppose is given to recording what is planned to be released as a SACD is the main reason for SACDs generally sounding better than many CDs.

[71 dB]

Indeed, in my experience, hybrid SACDs (not necessarily BIS, actually I think I have a couple of Da Capo ones) are amongst some of the best-sounding discs on my CD player.

I mentioned BIS, because it's the label perhaps most dedicated to SACD releases, but yes, other labels release awesome sounding  SACDs too.

[amw]

No Hewitt 106/111 this year? Sad.

edit: according to her website, she will have to take "many more months" to finish learning the Hammerklavier. I feel you sister.

[Todd]

No Hewitt 106/111 this year? Sad.

edit: according to her website, she will have to take "many more months" to finish learning the Hammerklavier. I feel you sister.

Many could be 3-4 months, or perhaps she will go for a complete piano works set and take until 2027 to release everything.

[Brian]

If Angela Hewitt is anything like me, she's waking up every morning now, thinking "I should learn the Hammerklavier today," and then farting around on the internet being in her pajamas until 3pm instead.

[amw]

Many could be 3-4 months, or perhaps she will go for a complete piano works set and take until 2027 to release everything.

The variations disc is scheduled for October so I would not be surprised if the last volume of the piano sonatas came out in 2021-22. 2027 will probably be when Hyperion issues them as a limited edition box set.

If Angela Hewitt is anything like me, she's waking up every morning now, thinking "I should learn the Hammerklavier today," and then farting around on the internet being in her pajamas until 3pm instead.

To be fair, that is a concert pianist's normal schedule if you substitute 12:30pm for "morning".

[Todd]

The variations disc is scheduled for October so I would not be surprised if the last volume of the piano sonatas came out in 2021-22. 2027 will probably be when Hyperion issues them as a limited edition box set.

Yeah, but if she's gonna miss the anniversary year, she should throw in the Diabellis and Bagatelles at least, and really all the other solo works.  Perhaps the Violin Sonatas, too, so Hyperion can include those and the Cello Sonatas in the 2027 box.  Maybe the concertos, as well.

[amw]

Yeah, but if she's gonna miss the anniversary year, she should throw in the Diabellis and Bagatelles at least, and really all the other solo works.  Perhaps the Violin Sonatas, too, so Hyperion can include those and the Cello Sonatas in the 2027 box.  Maybe the concertos, as well.

I would have no problem with this idea.

[Brian]

Yeah, but if she's gonna miss the anniversary year, she should throw in the Diabellis and Bagatelles at least, and really all the other solo works.  Perhaps the Violin Sonatas, too, so Hyperion can include those and the Cello Sonatas in the 2027 box.  Maybe the concertos, as well.

Looking at the Hyperion artist roster ... Ibragimova and Gerhardt for the hypothetical chamber music?

[Todd]

Looking at the Hyperion artist roster ... Ibragimova and Gerhardt for the hypothetical chamber music?

She recorded the Cello Sonatas with Daniel Müller-Schott.  She's also paired with him on Orfeo.

[Maestro267]

It might be covid-related, but I've noticed release dates for discs these days are very often near the end of the release month. In which case they might as well be considered releases for the following month.

[71 dB]

Most Hybrid SACDs have three programs. Surround Sound DSD, Stereo DSD and Stereo 44.1/16 PCM (the "CD" layer). You can listen to the high res, 2 channel DSD program with a 2 channel amplifier. I think SACD is worth it if you have a surround sound system. I have never heard a difference between the 2 channel DSD and CD layers.

That's how it is. 44.1 kHz / 16 bit digital audio is practically transparent to human ears and all discussions of the "lack of transparency" are theoretical in nature and the differencies between 44.1/16 and "higher resolution" formats tend to dissappear in blind listening tests. People do hear differences in hi-res audio and 44.1/16, but that's because of different masters where used. However, in a SACD discs all of the layers are from the same master, stereo versions are just downmixed and that's it. That's why 2 channel DSD and CD layers are audibly "identical."

That said, as has been stated here, SACD releases tend to be recorded and produced with extra care so even the stereo layers offer often excellent sound and SACDs are often great purchases even if you only use a CD-player to listen to them.

[aukhawk]

edit: according to her website, she will have to take "many more months" to finish learning the Hammerklavier. I feel you sister.

Always keep 'em wanting more, that's this woman's motto.

[Kontrapunctus]

Depending on the sampling rate of the master recording, SACDs can potentially offer a higher sampling rate for playback than CDs. 24/96 is common now, as opposed to the old 16/44.1 sampling rate, but it has to be downsampled for CD release. Some companies use 24/192, and a few record natively in DSD, usually at 64x the resolution of PCM--none of those sampling rates require downsampling for SACD releases. I believe 64x is the limit for an SACD, but hi-res files have resolution up to 512x that of a CD! (Assuming it was recorded at that resolution and not simply upsampled.)

[staxomega]

New Dinu Lipatti reissue: (would have loved for the EMI recordings in superior transfers)



ClassicsToday has a review, but behind a paywall.

[Que]

New Dinu Lipatti reissue: (would have loved for the EMI recordings in superior transfers)



ClassicsToday has a review, but behind a paywall.

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2020/Jun/Lipatti_Columbia_6032.htm

[71 dB]

Depending on the sampling rate of the master recording, SACDs can potentially offer a higher sampling rate for playback than CDs. 24/96 is common now, as opposed to the old 16/44.1 sampling rate, but it has to be downsampled for CD release. Some companies use 24/192, and a few record natively in DSD, usually at 64x the resolution of PCM--none of those sampling rates require downsampling for SACD releases. I believe 64x is the limit for an SACD, but hi-res files have resolution up to 512x that of a CD! (Assuming it was recorded at that resolution and not simply upsampled.)

You can't compare bitstream sampling rates to PCM sampling rates like that because they work differently. When your bit depth is only 1 instead of 16, you need huge sampling rate. Also, Native DSD is a myth. You can't modify 1 bit stream (but there is a way to work with 8 bit DSD) so it has to be converted to PCM, then mixed/mastered  and then converted back to DSD. This would be ok, but you can't dither DSD properly meaning you have massive distortion in the DSD, luckily far in the ultrasonic region so that it's not audible, but the point is DSD does not offer any sonic benefits compared to PCM, nor does 44.1/16 even need any improvements in consumer audio to begin with. Especially higher bit depths is a thing of music production where it is very beneficial, but consumers don't need more than 44.1/16. In fact about 13 bits would be enough. That's about 20 dB more dynamic range than vinyl offers at best.

44.1 kHz sampling rate offers just enough bandwidth to human ears. Children can hear up to 20 kHz. Middle age adults maybe to 16-17 kHz and older people even less. The 20 kHz bandwidth 44.1 kHz sampling rate is enough. Theoretically a sampling rate of about 60 kHz would be optimum making anti-alias and reconstruction filters easier to implement, but anything above that is overkill. 88.2 kHz and 96 kHz sampling rates are the highest making any sense and 192 kHz not to mention 384 kHz is complete madness in audio. Maybe those are useful in recording and analysing the sounds of bats, but that's it. Bigger numbers sell when people don't know anything and don't understand digital audio.

Because of bit depth being only 1 in DSD, DSD64 is 64/16 = 4 times the "resolution" of CD while DSD512 = 32 times the "resolution" of CD. However, this differency in "resolution" doesn't offer any benefits in consumer music nor is there a reason to even have an improvement over 44.1/16 in consumer audio. For this reason a lot of people working in the business use 44.1 kHz sampling rate when producing music, and 48 kHz samping rate when producing video sound and higher sampling rates only when clients ask for it to be able to sell high-res versions to audiophoois.