Any high resolution audio fans here?
 

Hey guys. I have recently become believer in Super Audio CD and I am wondering if anyone else here follows high res audio. I never really bought into it much before, but I recently upgraded my system and now I am a believer. I bought an ass kicking Denon AVR-3805 receiver and a Denon DVD-2200 universal transport. Before the upgrade I played my Norah Jones' Come Away With Me SACD on the 2200 but on my old receiver and I was not impressed at all. It is amazing to hear on the 3805/2200 combo. I borrowed Godsmack's The Other Side and Chris Thile's Not All Who Wander Are Lost SACD's from a friend at work. I have never heard acoustic guitar like what is on the Godsmack SACD before. Sully's voice is sharper and raspier that what I have heard on Red Book CD. The Chris Thile SACD is absolutely breathtaking. Its all him on a mandolin. You can literally hear his fingers plucking the strings. Its so crisp it makes me shudder. I don't yet have any software on DVD-Audio. I have plans to pick some up when money allows. I am picking up the re-release of The Downward Spiral regardless of money as soon as it comes out. It is also being put out on SACD, and I can't wait to hear what differences (if any) there are between the Red Book CD, SACD, and DVD-Audio versions. Anyone else here share my interests?

I didn't want the first reply to be negative, but it has been a couple days with no replies, so...

...no. I'm the opposite of you. I really like music, but I'm not that concerned about my hardware. Most of my listening is in my car, with an iPod going through my speakers. At home, I have a Bose system; audiophiles would laugh at me, but I think it sounds pretty good, and it doesn't visually dominate my living room.

I don't really care if I hear each finger touching the strings; I just want to hear the emotion of the piece, the quality of the lyrics, etc.

It often seems to me that the pure audiophiles are more interested in the reproduction of the music that the music itself.

Uhhhh, Bose totally kicks it. There was an amazing article about Amar Bose in Popular Science this month.

I really need to try SACD and DVD audio. I am a real stickler for sound quality. I encode mp3's at 192 kbps (at least) and have my computer running through a high end reciever. I do need to get a new sound card though, which I haven't done since the legendary SoundBlaster Pro 2.

Hmmm....it sounds nice and your excitement over hogh-end audio is infectious. HOwever, you're missing a critical element. Speakers. At the end of the day, all that great music and candy for the ears has to be driven through some nice speakers.

What do you have?

As for me, I actually really enjoy listening on headphones too. Talk about clarity and spatial placement. I like to use Sony 7506 headphones.

It's neat to watch movies with too. I used to watch movies late at night with the headphones on so as not to disturb people. Great effects!

Not really. their treble and bass are crap, and only their mids are good.

"No highs or lows? Gotta be bose!"

My speakers are a pair of Definitive Technology BP-10's. They are a bipolar speaker with a 6.5" midbass and a 1" aluminum dome tweeter front and back and a transmission line enclosure. Unfortunately they don't stage that well in my current setup. I'm only about 8 feet away from them and they only have about 2 feet to breathe from the back wall. I think at long last it is time to upgrade. Its going to be very difficult to part with them, as I have been looking for new speakers for almost 2 years and I still haven't found anything attainable (really taken with Meridian DSP5000's) that makes me want to get rid of my Definitive's. I've been looking at JMLab Electra 927 Be (if there are any left), Electra 926, Von Schweikert VR-2, and Von Schweikert VR-4jr's.

I like headphones too, but I usually only use mine with my iPod. I have a pair of Grado SR-225's.

I love the SA-CD....One SA-CD you need to get (if you are like me, you have it in 4 or 5 formats already) Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon....you wont be disapointed!!!

You know I've seen the Dark Side SACD like a million times now, but I never pick it up. I'm just gonna have to one of these days. Do you do multichannel or stereo SACD? I'm only (?) doing 2 channel SACD right now.

I don't do SACD yet, waiting til I have a system that does it justice. But perhaps some of the reason that Nora Jones didn't do anything for you was because it was probably mastered from a redbook audio cd. There was a stereophile article where they spoke to the engineer who made the recording and he admitted it.

I've yet to hear anything yet, including sacd and dvd-a (no not trey parker and matt stone's band), to rival 180+ gram vinyl played through a tube pre-amp and amp. But hey, us vinyl aficionados are going to have our own little spot in the DSM-IV soon enough :)

this is probably more a question for how to or computers, but how do you have your set up run through your receiver from your computer? ive been meaning to do this but have no idea where to start.

Take the audio out of your sound card and put it into an audio input on your receiver.