What's the difference between an SACD and DSD?

SACDs and DSD sound very different but are they really? Paul explains the difference between these two similar sounding formats and clears the air. Have a question you want to ask Paul?

[krisprojection]

I remember back in 2003 when I was 15 my local shop was selling all of there SACD and I picked up about 50 titles at 5-8 dollars and now some of those titles is worth a bit of money. Great Video Paul

[mygrooviecollection]

So DSD is the format and a SACD is the physical medium to play DSD from.

[brianmoore]

Just a note to clarify things, not all SACDs have a CD layer. The ones that do are called "hybrid SACD" and they will have both the SACD and the CD logos on the case somewhere. Many SACDs are single layer, having only the DSD layer of music, and so will not play on a standard CD player. SACD is apparently much more popular in Japan. There are still many American and British Rock and Jazz discs being released in Japan regularly which are easily available from CDJapan or Amazon. A lot of Classical music is also released on SACD, not to mention music from audiophile labels like Mobile Fidelity.

[xanderguldie]

Its a shame it never really took off. I have a couple of SACD's and they sound fantastic!

[vaniaudio]

Sir you have explained very briefly about SACD and DSD, Thank you very much Paul Sir

[ian_of_glos]

Thank you for the excellent explanation. In fact SACDs are alive and doing reasonably well in the classical music world. About half the recordings I buy are SACD, and they really do sound wonderful. Jordi Savall's recordings on Alia Vox are particularly good and almost all of them are on SACD.

[Andersljungberg]

The purpose of SACD and DVD audio it was also that it would be more difficult to copy. If I remember correctly, there would be a file for the disc that could trace the copy to the one who made the copy

[Andersljungberg]

when SACD and DVD audio came along, the music industry had major problems with copying CDs. at that time, people downloaded MP3 songs

[stephensr]

The first company to understand and appreciate DSD was dCS Audio. They built their own dac to specifically process DSD back in the early 90s and introduced upsampling to DSD in the late 90s.. I think that they're the only ones still today pushing the boundaries of dedicated dsd dacs. It's the reason why their older cd players still sell for high prices unlike newer players using off the shelf processors

[georgeanastasopoulos]

Actually at 0:55 it is 1982 in Japan, and Europe from what I remember; then in 1983 CD Players arrived in the United States of America, and Canada from what I read, heard, and remember. Here in Canada I remember when I finished high school in 1983 there was a news story on television presenting the compact disc, and the CD Player. Anyhow, thank you for this lecture on DSD, and SACD Paul! Now I am aware of more hi fi audio theory, and fact.

[rich]

A DSD stream looks like a high frequency PWM signal. It's not quite the same, but very similar. The pulse width doesn't change, but the pulse frequency changes instead.

[lozu]

I have a few SACDs and they sound great. I guess the format never took off because most people either like to experience music low (as in background noise) or overly loud like in the cars you hear booming down the road. Those of us that appreciate pristine sounding music are in the minority.

[wildcat]

SACD is on disc and requires an SACD player and DSD is a file that can be streamed via the internet or from a hard disc. Otherwise they are the same.
It is still open to debate whether DSD sounds better than high res PCM or whether they can be distinguished in blind testing. Personally I find DSD a bit more spacious and smooth sounding and PCM a bit crisper/precise. However, I'm still not convinced we even need sampling rates higher than 16/44 redbook CD. In my experience, the quality of the recording and the equipment used is far more important than high res, I have plenty of redbook cd's and 16/44 files that sound spectacular and better than some of my high res files - but that's just my opinion.

[tee-jaythestereo-bargainph]

I like my HDCDs alot but i'm a dynamics junky lol And normally HDCD have awesome reccordings

[zippymagee]

SACD, DVD-A, BluRay music is a great idea. Just wanted to bring up my wish. That they should sell music (specially in DSD) on SD cards... even use CD jewel cases with the inner changed to hold card instead of disc. So we could buy Digital music with nice packaging. That could be easily implemented in anything that already plays audio. Seems to late in now though.

[andreaslossius]

The DSD actually resembles the human nervous system as you explain DSD. Many pulses per second when it need to send much information, like encreasing force in a muscle or a loud sound from the ear to the brain. It is limited by the nerves ability to regenerate afther each actionpotential.

[GinsuSher]

I had a lingering feeling that sacds were the same as dsd.... Thanks for making it easy to understand.

[Projacked]

Wow didn't know that SACD and DSD were the same, I actually learned something today haha.
And yes it sounds fantastic!

[stephensmith]

I am an unrepentant physical media kind of guy and have a significant stable of unicorns (as "The Audio Company That Must Not Be Named" like to refer to SACDs and DSD in general). The best of them are superb, better sounding than anything in my much larger CD library. "But things ain't quite that simple."* There are some really good CDs that are, for all practical purposes, the equal of most SACDs. Maybe Paul's exalted playback system in a special listening room can routinely distinguish the differences, but here in outside world of modest but still enjoyable kit, it does't really matter so much. If you have a metaphorical ivory tower, good for you; enjoy. In the end its about the music and if there is something that you want, you get it on whatever format is available.


*"I've Had Enough" - Quadrophenia by The Who

[francispachecoiii]

Thank you Paul that makes things very clear about SACD. Great videos keep making them :-)