This album is excellent and worth 5 stars. This is a review of the format. The title claims that this is a HYBRID SACD. It is NOT! It was encoded using DSD which is the same process used to make an SACD but there is no high resolution SACD layer. It is well mastered and sounds excellent but it is not an SACD. Do not buy this thinking it is an SACD. If you just want a good recording then you will be happy.

Like basically every other early Stones album, "Beggar's Banquet" is another classic that you definitely need in your collection. Every track on here is great, and it also contains some pretty well-known Stones classics ("Sympathy For The Devil" and "Street Fighting Man", for example). Everything is wonderful here, from the lyrics to the instrumentation. The musicianship is excellent (more great Rock & Roll), and the lyrics are very much worth your time to listen to (they're incredibly interesting AND catchy!). Mick Jagger delivers more memorable vocals here on "Beggar's Banquet". This arguably may not be their "best" album, but really, there's no use bickering over such little things as they're all great and classics in their own way. All things aside, most people will love this album along with practically every other Stones CD! Absolutely recommended!

Highlights include:
the entire album!

If you have recently upgraded your cd or dvd player, hopefully you spent a bit extra and went for the one with SACD cababilities. If you haven't, what are you waiting for? The difference between SACD and conventional cds is remarkable!

Beggars Banquet was the second SACD I purchased after I bought my SACD player. The first was of course Dark Side of the Moon, which is mindbogglingly good in 5.1 surround sound. Beggers Banquet was disapointing to me at first, because the SACD layer is mixed in STEREO, not 5.1 surround. Therefore, even if you have the nice surround speaker setup, the sound will only come from the front side speakers. And though my system will decode conventional stereo cds to give them virtual surround sound, it does not do so for SACDs. I'm not an audiophile, so I didn't dig too much further. But it is important that you all know that some SACDs are mixed with 5.1 surround, while others are in stereo. It is up to the label and/or artist to decide. There are websites that you can find this info on all SACDs currently released.

Regarding Beggars Banquet, my "disappointment" in the stereo mix was short-lived. After sitting back, I realized the sound really did fill the room from just two speakers and the subwoofer. It is CRYSTAL clear. It doesn't have that initial goosebump effect that 5.1 gives you, but it does allow you to here sounds you never heard from Beggars Banquet before. Stray Cat Blues is particularly incredible. And if there is a song on this album that maybe you weren't so crazy about (I'm talking Dear Doctor or Factory Girl here), you will get an entirely new appreciation for them. Factory Girl is so damn good, you would think the fiddle was in the room with you. You will skip to this track to show this off to your friends. Trust me.

I flipped back and forth between a cd I had and the SACD version. No contest. If you are a Stones fan, go buy an SACD player and this cd. It is cheaper than buying two tickets to a show. You will agree after one listen, it was money well spent.