Michel Hafner wrote:
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chung wrote:
We agree that SACD's can have a better S/N ratio, below, oh, around 10KHz.


What is the S/N you can achieve with SACD and DSD-Wide from 10 Hz to say
10 Khz? How many bits will that amount to? I mean with existing mics and
preamps and also with ideal noise free mics and preamps?

If we assume that SACD and DSD-wide have roughly the same noise floor as
LPCM from 10 Hz to 10 KHz, then we are probably looking at somewhere
around 123 dB S/N, with noise measured from 10Hz to 10KHz only. I get
that estimate by assuming 20 bit resolution from commercial players,
which would put the noise at -120dB FS (20Hz to 20KHz), and 10Hz to
10KHz is roughly 3 dB less noise. Some players may have DAC's with
better than 20 bits resolution.

I think it is possible to get preamps with about 120 dB dynamic range,
although it is difficult. But I doubt if you can find a recording venue
with that kind of range.



I also said that DVD-A had cleaner highs and sounded smoother than CD in the
treble, which it does.

This is an unverified observation. Whether the better S/N translates
into cleaner highs or a smoother sound has not been proven, since CD's
can have ruler flat frequency response up to 20KHz. My take is that
recording and mastering have a much larger effect on the smoothness of
the sound.

So can and usually do your speakers and you room response.
Yesterday I experimented with a new lab quality measurement mic which is
flat to ~+- 1 db from 9 hz to 27 Khz. I corrected the sound to be linear
between 30 Hz and 15 Khz (and go down on a gentle curve below and above)
at my listening position. The difference is striking. And I have a very good
room with minimal echoes and very good speakers to begin with.
I would say the sound differences between well recorded SACD and DVD-Audio
are very small compared to room corrected and not room corrected sound on
a high quality reproduction chain.

The sound quality differences between SACD and DVD-A as consumer
delivery systems are extremely small, compared to those differences
between different recording/mastering takes, or speaker/room variations.