I am just starting to get into jazz (I have always leaned toward blues) and feel like it would be a great genre to listen to on an SACD. Does anyone have any feedback on the format, or recommendations for specific SACDs for a jazz novice. I have a pretty killer stereo and my CD player is SACD capable, I just have never bought one. Thanks.
SACD is cool, but you need a pretty good stereo system to really hear the difference. At least, your speakers have to be decent ($500/pair or better), you can get away with an average receiver. An SACD player run through the standard Best Buy Pioneer crap is still going to sound bad.
In that case, yeah, it's definitely worth it--I was running SACD through an NAD receiver and B&W 602 speakers, and it was awesome. I love B&W speakers.
Most of the more famous jazz titles are on SACD..A Love Supreme, Saxophone Colossus, several Miles Davis albums, etc. One in particular that I remember sounded spectacular was Sonny Rollins' "Way Out West." If you're new to jazz, check out the jazz section here at MC for recommendations, or look elsewhere on the web. If you find something that you want just check Amazon and see if they have it on SACD.
There's one thing to watch out for, though. Make sure the SACD's you buy are designated "DSD." That's Direct Stream Digital, the proprietary system designed for SACD. Unfortunately, some SACD's actually don't use DSD, they use the standard PCM system used for normal CD's (albeit, at a higher bit rate and sampling rate). In effect, they use SACD to emulate DVD-Audio, but the result doesn't sound as good as either one.
