When it comes to audiophiles and music lover, they have new technologies to embrace and enjoy their favorite tunes to. SACD or Super Audio Compact Discs offer an advantage to the traditional CD formats we are all accustomed to. SACD have more storage capacity and higher fidelity sound.

The underlying difference between normal CD versus SACD technology is how the data are encoded. CD format and DVD format make use of the digital encoding of analog signals through the so-called PCM process or pulse code modulation. PCM takes on the digital snapshots of an analog signal wave from varied points within the wave's motion.

The CD player then reads the corresponding data found on a compact disc, after which, it converts the snapshots back to sound waves. This is done by interpolating the approximate values in accordance with the waveform and loading them between the "snapshots" acquired by the pulse code modulation process, which is then depicted as music by the amplifier.

Unlike the approximations done with normal CDs, DVD-Audio has a higher fidelity of sampling speeds. CD offer at 44.1kHz and 16 bit. Meanwhile, DVD-Audio has settings at 96 kHz, 24 bit and both six and two channels.

Additionally, DVD-Audio provides a storage capacity with seven times more than the current compact disc technology. Such add-on capacity may be used for lengthy recordings, or advanced quality sound, plus visual contents that are accessible via PC-liner notes or television, artist bios, video clips, photo galleries, or song lyrics.

SACD has a newer technology which Philips and Sony are pushing call Direct Stream Digital or DSD. This DSD technology offers better music resolution because the music is closer to the original waveform. It is no longer approximated like the older method.

With the DSD method, SACD do not have to interpolate the data. The music is recorded at a higher sampling rate like 2.8224 Mhz.

In theory, the sound reproduction of SACD should be better. But another advantage is the higher storage capacity of the SACD.

When comparing the sound quality of the music, SACD is warmer and smoother because the DSD capture more musical data than the Pulse Code Modulation (PCM). The sound is fresher and reproduces a better amibience.

With the SACD multichannel, sound and sonic realism is achieved. When couples with a 5.1 channel home theater system, you can really take advantage of the musical data of SACD audio.

Although much better in sound quality and reproduction, the cost of new audio equipment may be slightly out of some people's budget. The great thing about SACD and DVD-Audio players is that they also can play CD and DVD-Video formats. No need to double up in equipment.

Overall, if you truly love the sonic fidelity of more data and smoother tone, why not consider adding a SACD player to you system. In addition, it makes an awesome addition to your home theater system.