Is it possible to get the enhanced audio quality of SACD's without a 5.1 system. What I mean to ask is this; if I have a stereo receiver are there any SACD players that I can hook up to it? Or must one have a 5 chanel system with an optical audio input?

Is it possible to get the enhanced audio quality of SACD's without a 5.1 system. What I mean to ask is this; if I have a stereo receiver are there any SACD players that I can hook up to it? Or must one have a 5 chanel system with an optical audio input?

Virtually every SACD (there may be literally a handful or less of exception out of 4,000 or so available discs) has a discrete 2-channel mix even if the particular SACD has a multi-channel mix. SACD cannot be passed over a toslink (optical) or coaxial digital connection. So in short you would just get an SACD player and connect the analog left and right outputs of it to your rec'r (not the left and right outs of the multi-channel output of the player) and enjoy.

In fact many high-end SACD players are only 2-channel stereo anyway...

I only have a 2-channel system as well, but enjoy SACDs using analog outs. Most are hybrid disks, so I just have to specify on my player whether I want the 2-channel SACD, multichannel SACD, or regular CD track. It usually specifies on the back of the jewel case what type of tracks are available on the CD (such as SACD stereo).

One of the issues that I have had with SACD discs is that not all multi-channel productions are equal to or better than the original 2 channel version. I believe that is why we have a number of high end 2 channel SACD/DVD-A players.

I am finally finding the time to experiment with MC and 2 channel sacd's on my Esoteric SA-60. In many instances the 2 channel production sounds superior to the multi-channel version. All a matter of the particular recording and personal preference.

Dropping by just to let you know that sacd can sound very, very good. But remember, sometimes a well recorded redbook cd can sound better than a sacd. Also very high end cd players can be sweeter playing music than a not very high end sacd player. All thing being equal the sacd should always give you better sound. I have the gold Marantz sa11 sacd player, which just by its looks you think something special will come out, and it does.

One of the issues that I have had with SACD discs is that not all multi-channel productions are equal to or better than the original 2 channel version. I believe that is why we have a number of high end 2 channel SACD/DVD-A players.

I am finally finding the time to experiment with MC and 2 channel sacd's on my Esoteric SA-60. In many instances the 2 channel production sounds superior to the multi-channel version. All a matter of the particular recording and personal preference.All that is personal and arguable. However, I will agree that, even though their proportion is very small, I, too, am surprising at the relatively high number of stereo-only SACD players. :rolleyes:

You can add the PS3 to this list of Stereo only SACD.. It sounds darn good, I was pleasantly surprised. However the fact that SACD doesnt work over anything digital (optical or HDMI) Means that whenever I want to just listen to a SACD i have to go into the PS3's settings and turn off HDMI and Optical audio output and turn on the Stereo settings.

All that is personal and arguable. However, I will agree that, even though their proportion is very small, I, too, am surprising at the relatively high number of stereo-only SACD players. :rolleyes:

That is your source player's or receiver's fault. SACD can be transmitted starting with HDMI 1.2. It can also be converted to PCM and transmitted over HDMI 1.1 such as in the Oppo player.

There are now a number of reports that the Sony Playstation 3 does transmit 5.1 multi-channel SACD audio through the HDMI interface to HDMI 1.1 (or 1.2, ...) receivers. The SACD is converted to PCM (probably 88.2 kHz 24 bit) for HDMI transmission.

One "gotcha" that people sometimes miss: many SACDs include a CD area (of course 2-channel), and a 2-channel SACD area, and a 5.1 multichannel SACD area. If the disk is called a "hybrid, multichannel SACD" then it definitely has all three areas. The player menu must include an option to select which area of the SACD to play. If the "out of the box" setting is 2-channel SACD, then you need to go into the player setup menu to make it play the multichannel area instead.