“Prefer” is strong - I like it yes - but I like the dCS - I view it as the same scenario as those people who have multiple turntables, or multiple arms and cartridges on the same deck - it’s about having options for different moods I guess. Horses for courses. I’m not so committed to it that I’ve bought myself an SACD player yet mind, but I might!
I’m speculating this is how @Gibraltar views it - but he may have other reasons for having the two distinct digital paths.
I share the hope - but not the expectation - super interesting!
Perfect sound forever you say? …I do think an AccurateRipped file should deliver better accuracy than a spinning disk, but I think when it comes to sound preference there is more going on than that.
If I was to speculate I’d say that a clean Rip will sound better than the spinning disk on the dCS player (Varese, Vivaldi) - whereas the Accuphase will sound different to both. Better….well personal preference applies more here.
That was Linn’s claim back in 2007 when I sat in on the first USA demo of the newly released Klimax DS. The ripped file eliminates some of the real time reading errors encountered by the laser beam
Yes - that’s actually the basis on my view. I remember powerful demos to this effect. And having ripped hundreds (thousands) of disks myself, I’ve certainly seen the accuraterip process make hard work of getting the data off a disk - going back over sections again and again to get the data off - which suggests that a player would struggle even more, as it’s got to do it at the speed of sound (kinda)
Ultimately I think any reasonable difference in accuracy of the source data will be possible to hear on the dCS where everything else is common. But likely lost on the myriad other differences on the Accuphase.
Everything digital i have put thought my vivaldi dac/upsampler have sounded the same, or so close it’s not worth even thinking about it.
The only thing’s that I had thought made a slight difference is how you connect the digital feed. I have found ethernet and aes to be what I like best.
I have tried a few different transports and they have all sounded the same, that’s why I went with the cheap transport I own, that has all the right connections for the dac and clock.
You need reel to reel master tapes if you want to beat any digital dac. My £500, 40 plus year old machine , re built/set up. But it does stuff my vivaldi can only dream about, and is better than any dac I have ever heard.
Reel to reel takes it even further, imagine even more dynamic resolution with no back ground noise at all, to distract you from the music, if you can do that then you are on your way to what it’s like. Nothing is like it
Don’t forget the pleasure of hearing the hum of your transport over some passages of the music, the pleasure of discs getting stuck in the transport, the transport not working altogether, unplugging, packing and shipping your transport out for service, etc! Don’t short change the experience (!) : )
You’re underselling the pleasures of an internet outage, needing to restart the router, the entire network, the nagging worries about a hard disk failure, inexplicable and random music dropouts, Roon screwing up a software release and leaving it there for weeks on end, or the streaming service being down here!
Anyways - oranges are not the only fruit, good to have a plan B when streaming isn’t quite the utility it promised, and what’s not to like about this…??
I had more probems with defect CD laser units (Linn, Sony, Pioneer and Naim) during the years vs instable internet or router crashes but these SACD player looking great!
It great having multiple sources, but you can only use one at a time.
It like having multiple cars, each one will give you something different, but you will have one that is your go to car, and the one you do 90% of your driving in, in my case with music, that’s streaming.
IMHO room ‘correction’ is an absolute must.
The moment you start to use Accuphase DG-68 Voicing EQ (room EQ), the question about CD/SACD transport is solved. Use an Accuphase transport and connect it to the DG-68 via HS-Link.
Output to dCS is SPDIF @44.1k for CD and @176.4k for SACD.
You can sync the output of the DG-68 to the rest of the system with a Mutec MC3+.
Same Dunc - and that’s a great analogy - I’ve been 90% streaming for a long time.
Have Vinyl Sundays - and may yet have SACD Saturdays! (And we have GT4 Sundays and Taycan the rest of the time!)
Another point is - and I know I can do it with streaming - but the forced discipline of a disc being on and listening to a full album, well that’s not to be knocked.
I think a bit of OT is allowed in an Accuphase thread - and with HiFi, you’re never more that 6 feet from a car analogy as we know!
We have the 982 - so the latest 718 variant - very nice - my wife’s car actually!
981 - superb - still hold their money terrifically well, and as exciting a drive now as the first day you had it I’m sure! …the GT4 generally is are arguably the finest drivers car Porsche have made.
Indeed! …I’m 6 foot 4 and like my feet dry, so they’ve never really done it for me!
Ah lovely garage. Carbon Ceramics and Sports buckets too…somebody wanted a track weapon! Is that GT silver? (edit - I think no - too dark - but too light for Volcano grey I think )
I had a 911 GTS - chopped that in for the Taycan GTS (which is an absolutely brilliant car by the way - soooo glad that I got one that was 3 months old and on a PCP mind you! ) and my wife swapped her (17mpg) Macan Turbo for the GT4 - we’re pretty happy with things, although she DOES miss a convertible so we may get out of the GT4 when it hits its 3rd birthday. So few good roadsters about nowadays - Boxster just too old, TT gone, SLK gone, Z4 going…a wierd phenomenon when those cars used to sell by the boatload.
…I do think an AccurateRipped file should deliver better accuracy than a spinning disk, but I think when it comes to sound preference there is more going on than that.
but these SACD player looking great!
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) and my wife swapped her (17mpg) Macan Turbo for the GT4 - we’re pretty happy with things, although she DOES miss a convertible so we may get out of the GT4 when it hits its 3rd birthday. So few good roadsters about nowadays - Boxster just too old, TT gone, SLK gone, Z4 going…a wierd phenomenon when those cars used to sell by the boatload.