The claimed performance of the QA-350 is bang on par for a late 80s or early 90s multibit oversampling CDP, SNR> 100dB; Distortion <0.005%, THD + N : 0.009%, my old 1989 RCD855 was a tad bettter on distortion/noise (0.0025%) and as good on other parameters. The $350 Marantz CD5004 has measured performance much better than that, and your SACD player should be far superior !
I am a none believer in specs anymore, beyond a certain threshold, it is meaning less. Price is also out the window. Now a days you can find some unbelievable audio values for very little money. Case in point, not too long ago, I purchased an inexpensive T-amps for my desktop that I discovered to sound better than my top-of-the-line mid 90s Yamaha amp in my main system. The T-amp was only 1/40th the price and nowhere near the specs of the Yamaha.
CD errors are really not an issue with any half-decent modern CDP, bit-error rates are so low nowadays you get ~2 inaudible uncorrected errors per CD
You must have a library of CD that are all in pristine condition. Unfortunately, my collection is not so lucky. 
Edited by ETAHL - 4/3/11 at 10:58pm
