SUPER AUDIO CD OR SACD

Despite having been around for a few years, most people still don't know about SACD, which stands for Super Audio CD. This is a CD to the eye, but upon a further technical insepction it is much more.

SACD's sound better than a normal CD. This should be prefaced, they sound better when played on an SACD Player with a surround sound stereo system. The reason this advanced CD sounds better is that it is supports a substantially higher fidelity audio reproduction than a CD.

Basically, the difference in sound between the two is due to the fact of how the music is encoded into an SACD versus a standard CD. SACD's code the music data 64 times more than a CD. This supremely higher sampling rate is the reason the SACD sounds so much better.

Currently, SACD's are read only, which means you are not able to burn anything onto them. They are produced with substantial copyright protections and they are not easily copied. To play the SACD properly you would need to have an SACD player and to get the full dynamic range available, you would have to have stereo surround sound active.

More artists are putting their material on SACD. Some of the more popular performers that have turned to SACD are Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Pink Floyd, and Nine Inch Nails. There are thousands of SACD quality albums now, with more coming to retail everyday. At some point the SACD will become a breakthrough item, but at the present time it is still in the realm of niche audio fans.