K2HD disks and their variants versus SACD?

[Gerry Higgins]

Folks-

I live on a farm and do not stream, although I do sometimes play previously downloaded hi-res files. I have an Esoteric K-01XS CD/SACD player and a friend's DCS Vivaldi One. FWIW, I think the Esoteric sounds better (to me) on Redbook PCM, K2HD, and SACDs.

My question is this - you were to purchase the same CD album, would you buy the SACD version or a K2HD variant from Japan?

I realize that the UHQCD format might not be better than a normal CD.

Any advice is appreciated. Thank-you - Gerry

[krustycat]

Simple answer, the mastering is the most important part.

With the same mastering, obviously SACD is better.

[audio5]

I recently purchased some jazz cds K2HD(best female audiophile vol,1-7) and xrcd24(bigbeat) from ED. i am impressed with mastering on these.
Additionally i am able to use portable dac ifi microdsd and headphone to enjoy songs.
I use oppo 205 for SACD imported from japan.
Sami

[Gerry Higgins]

Thank you for the feedback!

So, my feedback on the album "Bright Size Life" (Pat Metheny from the 1970s) and several others spanning 50 years, on the DCS Vivaldi One, the Esoteric, the downloaded high-resolution files with the MSB Technology Reference DAC, the K2HD+ versions sound better than the SACDs or the downloaded audio files on every device. There may be several reasons for this, but it may that whoever re-mastered the files in Japan did the best job.

Just checking. Thanks - Gerry

[SCAudiophile]

Originally Posted by krustycat

Simple answer, the mastering is the most important part.

With the same mastering, obviously SACD is better.

+1 it's all about the mastering. I have a very large number (hundreds) of XRCD, XRCD2, XRCD24, K2HD and SHMCD along with a few UHQ formats and SHMSACD and tons of various SACD releases. I have multiple formats on my shelves...of many releases.

Overall every XRCD(x) and K2HD I have are equal to and in a very few cases better than most SACD counterparts releases. This is particularly true of XRCD24 and K2HD 24/100 versions. Something magical and very close to analog with them...

[PHC1]

Originally Posted by SCAudiophile

+1 it's all about the mastering. I have a very large number (hundreds) of XRCD, XRCD2, XRCD24, K2HD and SHMCD along with a few UHQ formats and SHMSACD and tons of various SACD releases. I have multiple formats on my shelves...of many releases.

Overall every XRCD(x) and K2HD I have are equal to and in a very few cases better than most SACD counterparts releases. This is particularly true of XRCD24 and K2HD 24/100 versions. Something magical and very close to analog with them...

Exactly. I love XRCD. It is the mastering and the XRCD process as well that makes them simply superb if the musical taste aligns with the offering. SACD? Crapshoot... I introduced a friend to XRCD and now he has over 50 of them. I think he buys anything that says XRCD on the box LOL

[SCAudiophile]

+1 the finish quality on packaging, quality of the blanks used, etc...is consistently a cut above....

Originally Posted by PHC1

Exactly. I love XRCD. It is the mastering and the XRCD process as well that makes them simply superb if the musical taste aligns with the offering. SACD? Crapshoot... I introduced a friend to XRCD and now he has over 50 of them. I think he buys anything that says XRCD on the box LOL

[PHC1]

The XRCD process. Impressive, isn't it? https://www.elusivedisc.com/xrcdprocess.pdf

[SCAudiophile]

Originally Posted by PHC1

The XRCD process. Impressive, isn't it? https://www.elusivedisc.com/xrcdprocess.pdf

+1 !