CD v.s. SACD - 聴き比べ

スピーカーの鳴らし込みの合間にSACDをじっくり聴いてみた。僕はこれまでSACDをもっぱらサラウンドミックスのソースとして捉えているくらいで、DSD方式の善し悪しにはそれほど興味はなかった。
比較試聴は念のため会社と自宅と両方の環境で試した。会社のプレーヤーはPS-3、自宅はパイオニアのDV-46AVという廉価版の何でも再生できる米国向けモデルで、ソースはグレン・グールドのゴールドベルク変奏曲、小澤征爾・森麻季のモテットKv.165「エクスルターテ・イウビラーテ」、綾戸智絵の「To You」を使った。
結論としては意外に大きな音質差に驚いた。CDの音は血・肉が通っているのに対し、SACDは淡泊という印象だ。特に低域で薄くなる帯域があって、奥行き方向が扁平に聞こえる。高域にかけても籠もり気味で、音が充分に解放されていない。もちろんこの試聴条件が十分だとも思わないけど、だいたいほとんどの市販ディスクは元がPCM録音なのでDSDビットストリーム変換する分不利だとも思う。


While I whipped my speakers for aging, I also did a careful listening to SACD. SACD to me was simply a surround material and I have not been interested in the argument whether DSD is better or worse as a recording technology.
The comparison was performed in my home as well as in our company’s listening room to be sure with the results. The player in the office was PS-3 and mine at home was Pioneer DV-46AV, relatively low-cost multi-purpose player for US market. The discs I used were “Goldberg Variations” by Glenn Gould, Motet Kv. 165 “Exsultate Jubilate” by Maki Mori and Seiji Ozawa, and “To You” by Chie Ayato.
The outcome was surprising to see rather large difference in the sound. While CD tended to be associated with blood and flesh, SACD sounds flat and plain. There was a certain range in low frequencies where the sound did not come out enough and on the other hand in high frequencies the sound tended to be muffled and less open. I don’t necessarily think the test conditions were perfectly reliable, but an inevitable disadvantage for SACD was the fact that most of available titles were originally recorded in PCM thus a transcoding to DSD bitsteam unfortunately had to be involved.