[OneMalt]

I've read a lot of nice things about the Phillips 963SA on this forum. Is this as good as it gets for dedicated Redbook performance in the $400-$500 range or shoud I be looking at other players also? I plan to use it as the source in a headphone-only system. I'll be using it with a Cosmic Reference / Base Station One combo and HD-600s or RS-1s.

Also, can all the required functions for CD playback be accessed from the front panel as opposed to on-screen?

 

[dd3mon]

I'd personally like to hear from someone who has compared the 963sa to NAD 541i.

-dd3mon

 

[JaZZ]

The DVD 963 SA is a fantastic player for the money – but you have to consider that my benchmark is the almost «vintage» Audiolab 8000CDM / Theta Pro basic II combo. It's much better than this one, even as a transport feeding the Bel Canto DAC2 it's a night-and-day difference to the Audiolab – in favor of the 963 SA of course! It's amazing how close it comes even to the DAC2 when using its own DAC; there's just a tiny bit of lack of bass power, and the DAC2's soundstage is even wider, the upper end slightly more appealing, but as to detail and transparency, it's at least equal.

The downside is the (lack of) handling convenience. The reactions to commands are relatively slow, the search function is not adequate for audio purposes (once activated, you have to stop it manually by pressing «play»), the «pause» button is superfluous (you can press «play» instead), and there's no display of the remaining time possible. The switching between 96 and 192 (default) kHz upsampling rate needs a TV or computer screen (well, once you've written the command scheme down you can actually renounce it), but other than that all audio functions are accessible at the player or the remote control.

 

[scrypt]

The 963 is now in the $360 range and it's only going to get cheaper.

A used SA777-ES SACD is better, though some people have actually disagreed. A 541i is going to be better in some respects but not in others (particularly if you lack a dedicated DAC). Recent Musical Fidelity (A3.CR) and Adcom CD players are in an entirely different class, of course. But so is their price range.

Listening to my 963 with headphones has convinced me to upgrade my speakers and integrated amp long before I bother to upgrade my player.

The 963 sounds excellent with RS-1, providing your headphone amp isn't too harsh. (I tend to prefer solid state amps with the RS-1.)

 

[radrd]

I would be interested in a comparison of the DVD963SA to the Music Hall MMF-CD25. They might be fairly close on redbook from what I heard at the Seattle Meet. I bet it could go either way.

 

[deven8]

I recently bought the philips 963a. I am using it as a sacd player and a dvd player. Now when I compared it to my Linn Ikemi I would say the sacd portion is very close almost too close. I still prefer the ikemi fo redbook. It does make me think about how good the sacd technology is though.

But the upsampled cd portion of the 963 doesnt come close to the ikemi. Thats not to say its not good just not as good.

I think that for less than $400 the 963 is a freakin steal. I can't see how anyone could go wrong with this player for the money and the multiple sound options it has.

 

[dvr]

I recently replaced my CIAudio DAC with the 963, and it feels like I took a step backwards. The 963 is brighter and a bit thinner. Voices lack the substance and realism I heard with the VDA-1/VAC-1 combo. If you have a decent transport, you could add it to your list of options.

Both go for about the same price. I sold the CIAudio DAC/power supply combo for $360, just $12 less than I paid to get the 963 delivered to my door.

 

[Nightfall]

Quote:

Originally posted by scrypt The 963 is now in the $360 range and it's only going to get cheaper. A used SA777-ES SACD is better, though some people have actually disagreed. A 541i is going to be better in some respects but not in others (particularly if you lack a dedicated DAC). Recent Musical Fidelity (A3.CR) and Adcom CD players are in an entirely different class, of course. But so is their price range.

Scrypt,

Have you heard the Musical Fidelity CD PRE24 cd player, which I believe is the same as the A3.2 cd player, with the upsampling dac, and a preamp thrown in to boot.


JC

 

[fyleow]

Cambridge Audio D500SE

 

[bcwang]

fyleow,

What about the cambridge audio D500SE? Is it better or worse than the 963sa?

 

[bubblegummy]

I'll go with Music Hall Cd25 . But that's my system and $0.02.

 

[newspaperguy]

Quote:

Originally posted by dvr I sold the CIAudio DAC/power supply combo for $360, just $12 less than I paid to get the 963 delivered to my door.

DVR -- That's a good price. Where did you get it for that amount?

 

[dvr]

Quote:

Originally posted by newspaperguy DVR -- That's a good price. Where did you get it for that amount?

J&R. See: http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showt...threadid=30555

 

[newspaperguy]

Quote:

Originally posted by dvr J&R. See: http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showt...threadid=30555

excellent. thank you.

 

[springofdark]

How would the philips (on redbook) compare with a computer using the m-audio revolution 7.1 and a plextor 48/24/48a as the transport?