Must admit that I have not listened to any SACDs yet. At least not knowingly. My stereo is nothing special; it's just a working man's unit. With good headphones. And my Stones albums are whatever and wher ever I can get them. To be honest, when I had lost all my albums a few years back and had to start over from scratch, I had to economize quickly. So in order to get all the officials I bought them in loads from Russia. You get all the albums with extra tracks which I really loved. But I suspect that the quality of these albums is not the best. Still, I hear everyhting that I want to hear. At soime point it's like splitting hairs.
But I keep hearing about these SACDs. Is the upgrade really that drastic?
While vynil still has the warmest sound, I will never forget hearing ceratin songs on CD for the first time after a lifetime of knowing them on record. "Satisfaction" immdeiately became a different song. Much of Exile and GHS chnaged quite a bit too.

"...no longer shall you trudge 'cross my peaceful mind."

When you listen to the SACD's fot the first time, your live goes from black & white to technicolor!

On decent stereo equipment, you should hear a difference. If you have "audiophile" kit, then you will be blown away.

Amazing improvement in sound, imho!

quantum leap in sound, IMHFO. but it helps if you have a killer stereo, for sure.

It's a shame though that they're just in stereo and not mixed for 5.1.

i have fairly-okay equipment, and i bought my first SACD (Beggars) real crabby-like, not believing it would be audibly better,
and really really not wanting it to be, since i didn't have any wish at all to replace all my early Stones CDs.
the next thing i knew i had replaced all my early Stones CDs. i still haven't heard the SACDs on SACD-capable equipment, but they sure sound good.


"What do you want - what?!"
- Keith

The Stones re-releases are "hybrid" versions, which means they're SACD's and they can also be played on a regular CD player. The sound quality on just the regular layer is a big upgrade, in most cases, from the previous releases.

I bought a Sony SACD player just because of the Stones releases. The only one's I didn't buy (again) were Hot Rocks, Through The Past and Satanic. I did buy Big Hits because the version of Time Is On My Side is the guitar intro version while 12x5 has the organ intro version. Also, Satisfaction is the weak stereo version, with Brian's acoustic guitar sounding stereo. On this version, Charlie's drums sound alot clearer and crisper than on Out of Our Heads. Not sure why they didn't use this version on the album.

I was in a local record store yesterday and I noticed that the ABCKO lineup is now coming out in regular jewel cases and are not hybrids anymore, just regular CD versions.

Is it worthwile to get the SACDs and rip them on MP3? I only have the iPod Bose sound system but no stereo system.

The mono Satisfaction can be found on the SACD's

Out Of Our Heads - US
Singles Collection



ROCKMAN

DGA35 Wrote:
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I bought a Sony SACD player just because of the Stones releases.
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I did too. I'd recommend getting Satanic Majesties on SACD. It sounds incredible.

2000 Man






Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2006-01-23 22:20 by Lil' Brian.

There is a definite improvement in sound with the sacd's. The bass lines in particular are right there in your face as never before. The sound stage is clear and with a good sound system it is a revelation to hear these recordings in this format. I would recommend you buy them while you can. Take your favorite sacd albums to a quality audio components store and express some interest in buying some new stuff. You can sit back and listen to your favorite tracks at high volume in the listening room. Tell them you just wanted to shop around to hear the difference in the components. You will hear the difference. This was actually one Stones project they DID NOT screw up.

My Let it Bleed SACD is incredible. I have an average stereo. Wish they would re-do the post Abko stuff.

I also purchased the other Allen Klein SACD hybrid remasters of The Animals Greatest Hits, Sam Cooke's Greatest and Herman's Hermit's Greatest. Like the Stones, these remasters sound better than the previous CD releases.

As I've mentioned here before, Dark Side of the Moon hybrid sounds awesome, especially in 5.1 surround. Oasis What's The Story also sounds awesome in 5.1, so much cleaner sounding than the regular CD. Instruments and voices that I never knew were on the songs! This is a true SACD which can't be played on regular CD players.

Lil Brian, I might have to go out and buy Satanic Majesties now!

SACD is as close to vinyl as digital can get. The early Stones stuff is particularly striking in contrast to old pressings. When I first heard Under My Thumb, my jaw dropped.

AS far as I know, you cannot rip SACD to mp3. But the SACD's, are hybrid releases, meaning they have both an SACD and CD layer, and the remastered CD layers sound great, so whether you are SACD compatible or not, buy em.

By the way, there is a Stones remix Sympathy CD single. The remixed tracks suck, but buried at the end of that disc is a 5.1 channel SACD remix of the original track. It takes some time to get used to it, but once you do, it kind of envelopes you in sound -- very, very cool.

The Singles Collection SACD is the only place you'll find on CD the 7" mono take of Street Fightin' Man....wild and worth it for this alone!



ROCKMAN

Yes! Officially released alternative mixes - one of my favorite topics (yeah, I know, a little geeky). Anyway, I agree re SFM. I also think that LSTNT has never sounded good in stereo.

Off topic, but one of the most unfortunate facts of R&R history is that the Beatles "Revolution" is basically only available in a crap stereo mix. The mono mix just kicks ass.

Yeah once again Let's Spend The Night Together is mono only on The Singles Collection of the SACD's ..the other 4 are stereo



ROCKMAN

i got all the Stones sacd's + many more by other artists on DVD audio also, but i dont have an sacd & dvd audio player yet. Im lookin @ a Denon that costs around $600.00 which gets great reviews online , but who no's if their accurate , can any of u people add some comments on players , i want 2 buy 1 that sounds excellent , tanks

The Denon universal players kick ass. Key points are don't buy the latest model (priced too high), and never buy used.

I just got a Sony sacd player for Christmas. I bought all the Abkco remasters in 2002 knowing I would at some point get an sacd player.

The difference in sound is significant! The music has more depth, each instrument has more "space" or "air" around it. It's like listening to music in 3D.

As someone else mentioned, there's nothing they are gonna do in digital that captures the warmth and detail of analog. When you play, for example, Beggar's in sacd what you are hearing is the same sound you heard when you brought that first Beggar's album home, put it on an excellent turntable, on a great stereo system, and played that album for the very first time. Before scratches became evident.

Since the arrival of cd we have forgotten exactly how good that album sounded the first time it was played!!! It's awesome!!!!

Roger