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Super-audio CDs (SACD) is a new type of media from Sony designed to succeed the Compact Disc. In appearance, it is identical to a CD or DVD. Its primary competitor is the DVD-Audio (DVD-A) which uses a DVD as media for multi-channel high-resolution audio. With good audio engineering, both DVD-As and SACDs can sound signficantly better than a standard CD, and both formats can provide additional "surround sound" channels.

CDs and DVD-As use Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) to digitize music, sampling audio at a fixed rate, using a number with a fixed number of bits. SACDs encode music using a method called Direct Stream Digital (DSD). DSD recordings sample the music 1 bit at a time, but at a very high sample rate (64 times that of a standard CD). The high sample rate gives a DSD recording high resolution, and the end result is immediately apparent.
 
Below is a list of Super-Audio Compact Discs (SACD) available from The Gothic Catalog.

All SACDs we offer are "hybrid SACDs"---they have two layers of data on them. They will play on any CD player, and play the higher-resolution DSD layer when put into an SACD player.
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In Paradisum/South Dakota Chorale Joby Talbot: Path of Miracles - Tenebrae - Nigel Short
In Paradisum: The Healing Power of Heaven/South Dakota Chorale
Our Price: $18.98 - includes Free Shipping!
Joby Talbot: Path of Miracles/Tenebrae
Our Price: $18.98 - includes Free Shipping!
Winner: Grammy for Best Classical Producer, Blanton Alspaugh. In their debut recording, the South Dakota Chorale performs the rarely recorded “organ version” of Duruflé’s Requiem, using the French-influenced Bedient organ of First Congregational Church in Sioux Falls, SD. Path of Miracles by Joby Talbot
Tenebrae (choral ensemble), directed by Nigel Short

The 62-minute a cappella choral work, "Path of Miracles" depicts the journey of medieval pilgrims to Santiago, Spain, resting place of St. James.  Extensive use of ostinato patterns, soaring soprano lines, and Tenebrae's incomparible vocal virtuosity make this CD a must-have for anyone who likes contemporary choral music.

One reviewer wrote: "I would go as far to suggest that Talbot’s “Path of Miracles” is to the first decade of the 21st-century what Arvo Pärt’s "Passio" was twenty years earlier." (Classics.com)  Another said, "Path of Miracles is little short of a musical miracle itself."  

This hybrid super-audio CD (SACD) plays in both a standard CD player, and those equipped for SACD.
   
 
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