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What CD/SACD Players should I be looking at for under $500 USD?

post #1 of 12
1/23/12 at 12:29pm
Thread Starter 

I'm about to get into CD/SACDs. I've previously done all my listening off my Desktop PC>X-FI Titanium HD>Schiit Valhalla>DT880 600Ohm.

 

I was looking at the Azur 650C by Cambridge Audio. I'm not really partial to any brand. I would just need a dedicated CD player. So what brands should I be looking for? I read though a lot of the posts I found, but they were relatively old.

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post #2 of 12
1/23/12 at 3:46pm

Would you consider buying used? And are you looking for multichannel or will two channel suffice?

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post #3 of 12
1/24/12 at 1:28am

At the <$500 level, I think you'll probably get better performance out of a good CD player than a mediocre CD/SACD player. Check out the Harman Kardon HD 990, $399 at some stores.

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post #4 of 12
1/24/12 at 9:21am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by PrestigeWW View Post

Would you consider buying used? And are you looking for multichannel or will two channel suffice?

 

I would much rather have a new one. Two channel would be fine. I will only be listing with my headphones.
 

 



Quote:
Originally Posted by DaveBSC View Post

At the <$500 level, I think you'll probably get better performance out of a good CD player than a mediocre CD/SACD player. Check out the Harman Kardon HD 990, $399 at some stores.


Ah, I had just assumed that most high end CD players had SACD capabilities. But in that case, yes, I would prefer a GOOD CD player over a decent CD/SACD

 

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post #5 of 12
1/24/12 at 9:50am

At $500, Oppo makes a great bluray/SACD player, but it's probably more than you need in terms of feature set.

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post #6 of 12
1/24/12 at 10:12am

2 years ago I paid $600 for a used Marantz SA8001.  It was getting lots of love here and I bet the price has come down since then.

I've been very happy with the unit.

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post #7 of 12
1/24/12 at 10:27am

I use to have the Harmon Kardon DVD-48 for a while.  A real bargain for the $89 I paid and it performed well for all my CD/SACD tracks.  This leaves you with enough Benjamins for a nice DAC and cable if that suits your fancy.

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post #8 of 12
2/19/12 at 8:40am

Recently, I gor CA Azure 650 and I love it. Simple, clean and heavy duty. You have to pair it with CA Azure Amp to get the best results.

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post #9 of 12
2/21/12 at 9:06pm

Pardon my ignorance but are there still even good new SACD releases? I thought it was an all but dead format at this point.

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post #10 of 12
2/21/12 at 9:29pm

+1 on the Oppos.  Very good player.  I use an old Philips DVD-963SA. 

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post #11 of 12
2/21/12 at 10:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaveBSC View Post

At the <$500 level, I think you'll probably get better performance out of a good CD player than a mediocre CD/SACD player. Check out the Harman Kardon HD 990, $399 at some stores.



I use the Harman Kardon HD970 (previous model) and it is an excellent CD player (very good DAC as well).  If you can pick one up for $399 then I would say you have a bargain priced super performing CD (no SACD function though).  This is a $1,000 CDP in Australia.

 

http://www.avhub.com.au/index.php/Product-Reviews/Hi-Fi/harmankardon-hd990-cd-player.html

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/audio-visual/hi-fi-and-audio/cd-players-and-recorders/harman-kardon-hd990-cd-player-594768/review


Edited by Kernmac - 2/21/12 at 10:38pm
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post #12 of 12
2/22/12 at 8:45am

It 's really hard to fine another name beside this Harmon , what a pity !

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