Post by mdt April 4, 2004 (1 of 18)
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I have found the same type of distortion on these SA-CD's : Zemlinsky "die Seejungfrau" (Chandos) and "Le Nozze di Figaro" (Harmonia Mundi).
Strangely enough the distortion does not occur during the music passages but, on both recordings, a sharp crackling sound appears an instant after the end of the last musical signal.This is only the case on the stereo-DSD track, not on the CD-track (cant play mch).The level of this "crackling" is such that i imagine it could do damage to tweeters if one was listening to the music at live-like levels.
Since this appears on completely different recordings from different companys in exactly the same way i asume it has to do with the transfer or pressing process.
Has anyone made similar observations, is it known where these SA-CDs were pressed or mastered.
PS. : it woud be nice to hear something from industry people, since this could cause damage to equipment.
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Post by zeus April 4, 2004 (2 of 18)
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mdt said:
I have found the same type of distortion on these SA-CD's : Zemlinsky "die Seejungfrau" (Chandos) and "Le Nozze di Figaro" (Harmonia Mundi).
Strangely enough the distortion does not occur during the music passages but, on both recordings, a sharp crackling sound appears an instant after the end of the last musical signal.This is only the case on the stereo-DSD track, not on the CD-track (cant play mch).The level of this "crackling" is such that i imagine it could do damage to tweeters if one was listening to the music at live-like levels.
Do you have a Sony SCD-1 or SCD-777ES player? There would seem to be a firmware bug in some of these players which is aggravated by a recent change in mastering by some labels. The symptom is a loud noise or distortion at the end of the disc. The fix is reportedly to replace IC716 to bring these machines up to version 2.53. Contact Sony's service department for more details.
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Post by mdt April 4, 2004 (3 of 18)
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zeus said:
Do you have a Sony SCD-1 or SCD-777ES player? There would seem to be a firmware bug in some of these players which is aggravated by a recent change in mastering by some labels. The symptom is a loud noise or distortion at the end of the disc. The fix is reportedly to replace IC716 to bring these machines up to version 2.53. Contact Sony's service department for more details.
I have a Accuphase DP-100,coming to think about it it may be mechanically based on the SCD-1.
Thanks for your hint anyway.Do you know anything more about the "change in mastering". May i have trouble with several SA-CD's in the future ?
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mdt said:
I have found the same type of distortion on these SA-CD's : Zemlinsky "die Seejungfrau" (Chandos) and "Le Nozze di Figaro" (Harmonia Mundi).
dear max, I haven't experienced any distortion with the Zemlimsky disc such as you describe. Would be very interested to read your views on the Figaro.
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Post by zeus April 4, 2004 (5 of 18)
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mdt said:
I have a Accuphase DP-100,coming to think about it it may be mechanically based on the SCD-1.
Thanks for your hint anyway.Do you know anything more about the "change in mastering". May i have trouble with several SA-CD's in the future ?
Information on this problem is sketchy at the moment but it's probable that the same disc will play cleanly in another brand/model player. The number of reported discs with this symptom is rising. Even if they do make a change to mastering procedures, it will take a while for replacement discs to displace the "bad" ones in the channel. Returning the discs for exchange is unlikely to be fruitful. And some yet-to-be-released titles have probably been likewise mastered already. I'd speak to Accuphase about this and see what they have to say.
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Post by mdt April 4, 2004 (6 of 18)
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nucaleena said:
dear max, I haven't experienced any distortion with the Zemlimsky disc such as you describe. Would be very interested to read your views on the Figaro.
Dear nucaleena,
im glad to give my opinion on the Figaro.I just finished listening to it this evening.It is a beautiful recording, and specially in the recitatives it's incredibly alive; one can actually hear the singers acting and living their roles.The recording is clear and close but in a positive sense, appropriate to the music and the size of the orchestra.The sound of the "period" orchestra is very expressive in accompanying the singers but some times,e.g. in the ouverture i personally prefer the sound of modern instruments particularly in the strings.
I strongly recommend the set.
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Post by mdt April 4, 2004 (7 of 18)
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zeus said:
Information on this problem is sketchy at the moment but it's probable that the same disc will play cleanly in another brand/model player. The number of reported discs with this symptom is rising. Even if they do make a change to mastering procedures, it will take a while for replacement discs to displace the "bad" ones in the channel. Returning the discs for exchange is unlikely to be fruitful. And some yet-to-be-released titles have probably been likewise mastered already. I'd speak to Accuphase about this and see what they have to say.
You're right,an exchange of the "Zemlinsky" did'nt help.When checking on the retailers low-end SA-CD player it played without problem whereas on my player the same noise occured again.
Unfortunately this was one of my favourite discs, should frustrations be unloaded on the mastering studio or on sonopress ?
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Post by zeus April 4, 2004 (8 of 18)
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mdt said:
Unfortunately this was one of my favourite discs, should frustrations be unloaded on the mastering studio or on sonopress ?
I don't think it's a single factor, more likely just an incompatibility. For example, some early players (like my Marantz SA-14) don't cope with layer switches (on dual-layer SA-CDs) mid track even though this is in the spec. The problem could be fixed by bringing the player into spec with a firmware change, or remastering the disc. The only disc I had a problem with (Brahms/Stravinsky: Violin Concertos - Hilary Hahn) was eventually remastered as single-layer. This latest glitch seems to be more widespread and probably best addressed with a firmware change. If you're the unlucky first, you may have to send your "bad" disc off to Accuphase in Japan for them to replicate the problem and come up with a fix. It's unfortunate but this is just how things go.
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Post by Johnno April 4, 2004 (9 of 18)
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I have a Sony SCD-XB940 (one of the earliest of Sony's stereo-only players), which I thought "very ordinary" until I had it extensively modified and the quality I've been experiencing over the past year or so from both SACDs and CDs has generally been superb. However, I have noticed problems such as the player suddenly switching to CD mode when playing SACDS and one disc which had previously played without any bother as an SACD (the George Lloyd Cello Concerto on Albany) would barely start playing before it stopped when I played it recently -- and then only in CD mode. I took it up and tried it out on my brother's XB940 where it played without a problem. When I returned and played it on my [player again, it was fine right through in SACD mode.
That was particularly embarrassing as I was demonstrating SACD to an interested party -- and I'm not sure just how interested he was after that!
Your comment about a firmware change made me wonder whether I could look at something like that for my Sony. What do you think, Stephen? As I say when it functions correctly -- which is admittedly usually -- its sound leaves nothing to be desired now.
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Post by mdt April 5, 2004 (10 of 18)
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zeus said:
I don't think it's a single factor, more likely just an incompatibility. For example, some early players (like my Marantz SA-14) don't cope with layer switches (on dual-layer SA-CDs) mid track even though this is in the spec. The problem could be fixed by bringing the player into spec with a firmware change, or remastering the disc. The only disc I had a problem with (Brahms/Stravinsky: Violin Concertos - Hilary Hahn) was eventually remastered as single-layer. This latest glitch seems to be more widespread and probably best addressed with a firmware change. If you're the unlucky first, you may have to send your "bad" disc off to Accuphase in Japan for them to replicate the problem and come up with a fix. It's unfortunate but this is just how things go.
I have written to Accuphase by e-mail.Would theire be any interest in my reporting on the answer, should i get one, on this thread ?
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