SACD fans?

I'm kind of left without anything to do in this hobby now that my stereo is where its going to be for the foreseeable future. I have space for one more component here from what I have in storage, and so I'm going to bring over my EMM Labs SACD player. It's one of the better 2-channel SACD players ever made so... it seems like a fun place to dive in. I have maybe 20 SACDs, mostly bought because I found them not because I sought them out. I'm thinking of making SACDs the focus of this years audio allowance. Seriously, I'm set otherwise so why not?

So....is there a good hub for finding them? I know Music Direct has many of them, and their cutout/outlet store is not far from here. So I'll be visiting that. Ebay of course. Are there any dedicated sites? It seems like a near-dead format now that people are streaming DSD but I actually want one digital format that isn't connected to the internet.

Cheers.

Acoustic Sounds has a lot: SACD|Acoustic Sounds

Ohh, can I be an SACD fan if I don’t have any? (I do have a spiffy player)

Audionut said:

Ohh, can I be an SACD fan if I don’t have any? (I do have a spiffy player)

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I’m the opposite. A good pile of SACDs but no player.

JohnVF said:

I'm kind of left without anything to do in this hobby now that my stereo is where its going to be for the foreseeable future. I have space for one more component here from what I have in storage, and so I'm going to bring over my EMM Labs SACD player. It's one of the better 2-channel SACD players ever made so... it seems like a fun place to dive in. I have maybe 20 SACDs, mostly bought because I found them not because I sought them out. I'm thinking of making SACDs the focus of this years audio allowance. Seriously, I'm set otherwise so why not?

So....is there a good hub for finding them? I know Music Direct has many of them, and their cutout/outlet store is not far from here. So I'll be visiting that. Ebay of course.

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You've named two of my main sources in eBay and Music Direct. (Inquiring minds want to know about the Music Direct outlet store.) Acoustic Sounds is a pretty good one, too. I've bought from Discogs as well.

sa-cd.net offers some decent information, in my experience. Sometimes, individual sellers mistake CDs with the DSD insignia as SACDs, and I've used that site and others to try to ferret out the difference. The opposite can also be true--I routinely find, or used to, when I went into stores, SACDs in the used CD bins.

Good luck! I happen to enjoy the format myself.

Same here. I have a Marantz SA-10 and only a handful of SACD's. Shame really as the format can sound absolutely phenomenal. The few I have are really good.

Audionut said:

Ohh, can I be an SACD fan if I don’t have any? (I do have a spiffy player)

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Lots of variations on this theme; I have hundreds of SACDs but they are all ripped to a file server and played via Roon>HQplayer, I no longer have an SACD player in my system.

And yes, the good ones (especially those originally recorded in analog or DSD) can sound phenomenal.

Elusive Disc is another option similar to MusicDirect, and Acoustic Sounds.

I've also been able to find SACDs on Amazon, though not nearly in the quantity they used to be available there, however you can still find some of the original major label releases there at relatively reasonable pricing, and also some of the more recently released boutique label stuff too, but those always vanish pretty quickly. It doesn't appear Amazon is getting their hands on any large number of units there. Sometimes the seller is not actually Amazon, it could be MovieMars, or ImportCDs for example.

For imports, CDJapan is generally my source, but you have to act fast when the title is released as only then would it be at pricing similar to a Mobile Fidelity new release in the U.S. If you snooze, the price skyrockets as those Japan imports go out of print very quickly and they adjust pricing upward accordingly, and they seem to get those elevated prices right up to the point that the title is gone for good, or listed as awaiting a repress that generally speaking never actually happens except in rare cases.

watt said:

Sometimes, individual sellers mistake CDs with the DSD insignia as SACDs, and I've used that site and others to try to ferret out the difference.

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We've had a few instances of that in the SACD ripping thread unfortunately, where someone bought a Redbook CD with a DSD label somewhere on the packaging. Discogs as you noted is a very good place to precisely identify what's what.

watt said:

The opposite can also be true--I routinely find, or used to, when I went into stores, SACDs in the used CD bins.

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Those were the days, most prevalent right after the major labels stopped producing SACDs. In some cases those were the actual CD release available for a number of years, there was no standard Redbook CD being pressed, only the hybrid SACD was available for a time with things like the Stones on ABKCO, or Dylan on Columbia, and a few others. Some of those ended up in the used CD bins and were gem finds. Those days seem to be over, at least in NY they are.

Prime Minister said:

I’m the opposite. A good pile of SACDs but no player.

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; send them my way!

There is a Sub-Forum just for Hi-Rez and SACD sales at the Steve Hofman site.

I believe you need to be a member with at least 50 posts in order to see the sales links.

In addition to Music Direct, I've also purchased a number of SACD's from ElusiveDisc.

Thank you for all the recommendations! I think this will be plenty of sources for me to find whatever I'm after. I figure one a week? With most of my records in storage I can get back to listening to music like I did when I was a kid and only have a few albums...really getting into each one.

I have one of the Rolling Stones SACDs, the Hot Rocks collection, that wasn't labelled as such at a used record store. I'll look for more of those, and the Dylan releases. Other than that I'll just poke around and see what I find.

watt said:

(Inquiring minds want to know about the Music Direct outlet store.)

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At their warehouse here in Chicago they have a large back room that's a record store along with some demo and B-stock/closeout gear. It's not really advertised that I can tell but it's definitely still there as I went back before the pandemic hit. They had a lot of used records but also a lot of MFSL stuff. I bought a few SACDs and albums, I think they were there and discounted because the jackets weren't perfect..some of them were also closeouts. They used to have a big sale once a year, a kind of open house with a ton of b-stock, open box, whatever gear and that's how I found out about it.

JohnVF said:

At their warehouse here in Chicago they have a large back room that's a record store along with some demo and B-stock/closeout gear. It's not really advertised that I can tell but it's definitely still there as I went back before the pandemic hit. They had a lot of used records but also a lot of MFSL stuff. I bought a few SACDs and albums, I think they were there and discounted because the jackets weren't perfect..some of them were also closeouts. They used to have a big sale once a year, a kind of open house with a ton of b-stock, open box, whatever gear and that's how I found out about it.

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Sounds like some dreams I've had . . .

JohnVF said:

I have one of the Rolling Stones SACDs, the Hot Rocks collection, that wasn't labelled as such at a used record store. I'll look for more of those, and the Dylan releases.

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Always the paper sleeved "digipack" version with either of those, never the plastic jewel boxed version that does have a DSD sticker on it, that's a Redbook CD.

MikeyFresh said:

Always the paper sleeved "digipack" version with either of those, never the plastic jewel boxed version that does have a DSD sticker on it, that's a Redbook CD.

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The hunt for cheap music was a lot of the fun of the music hobby for me, with all of this starting when I was 17 in 1991 and my parents came back from the fleamarket to tell me there were $1 records at several vendors. With even common records $15 around here that thrill is gone. Maybe digging into the $2-$5 CD bins looking for the DSD label on the back will be my new treasure hunt. Thanks for the info.

Another thing ushering this SACD thing in here is that we have a really loud AC unit and I've retreated to my Audeze headphones as its gotten warmer, the 'phones having acquired maybe 20 hours on them over the apx 10 years I've had them until a few weeks ago. I'm digging this, reminds me of how I listened when I was younger living with my parents, rocking out at 3am with my cheap Aiwa headphones. I think SACD and these headphones will go well together..

JohnVF said:

Another thing ushering this SACD thing in here is that we have a really loud AC unit and I've retreated to my Audeze headphones as its gotten warmer, the 'phones having acquired maybe 20 hours on them over the apx 10 years I've had them until a few weeks ago. I'm digging this, reminds me of how I listened when I was younger living with my parents, rocking out at 3am with my cheap Aiwa headphones. I think SACD and these headphones will go well together..

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You could relive that experience!

Prime Minister said:

You could relive that experience!

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Ooooooooo!!!!!!

Prime Minister said:

You could relive that experience!

AIWA HP-A270 Vintage Stereo Headphones - 1980er-RARE | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for AIWA HP-A270 Vintage Stereo Headphones - 1980er-RARE at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

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Yes! I'll pair them with my Aiwa walkman, which was like this... I remember the EQ on the front. I've always been into fancy stereo stuff, you see.