Calling all 963sa and 563 owners out there.

[bundee1]

I NEED an SACD player badly. Ive been without one for about 4 months and I miss my discs so badly. Im thinking about picking up that onecall.com 963 or one of the last remaining 563 at CC. I want good dvd playback but also good sacd playback.

963 pros- good sacd, decent video and upsampling cds.
963 cons- flaming hot cds, poor reliability, poor replacement warranty (actually no replacement only repair)

563 pros- universal player, decent video and sacd
563 cons- only 2 ch pure sacd, poor bass management, software bugs

For those of you who own these units can you recommend one player over the other? Can you mention the production dates of your units and any reliability issues? Thanks for all your help in advance.

 

[tortie]

I havent tried the 563. But I would like to correct you about 963s video playback, its not just decent, its closer to very,very good

 

[bundee1]

Have you had any of the reported problems or any strange quirks with your 963 tortie?
Anyone else?

 

[Orpheus]

my 963 makes clicking sounds every 1.8s or so. apprently not the only unit to do so--i posted about this. but it's really quiet, and you only can hear when the room's quiet and you have the music turned down.

other than that, it's a fantastic value. nothing better in that price range. dunno why you said it has poor reliability--seems fine to me. also, flaming hot CDs?--not really... my Tascam makes CDs much hotter.

 

[Gopher]

I own both players and though I've never listened to them in same system, I recommend the Philips over the Pioneer.

I'd say the video quality of the Philips is better then merely descent and it, looked great on my projector when I was source rolling with my dad.

I've never had a disc come out of my 963SA flaming hot, ever. I have played discs for 48 hours straight durring burn in and heating has never become an issue. I owned another Philips player of the same generation also in the Match III line and overheating was a huge problem with audio CDs but NEVER with the 963.

Oh, and I am dislike the 563

. To me it sounds dull, digital and boring. In its defense though, I haven't done any of the tweaking with it that I have with the 963sa (ie, AZ Tsunami Plus, Aurios MIB, Statmats, etc.)

 

[tortie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bundee1 Have you had any of the reported problems or any strange quirks with your 963 tortie? Anyone else?

No problems or quirks with my player so far. My player came with one of the newer firmwares. That may be the reason for its trouble-free performance, but im not sure about that. The CD's do get somewhat hot, especially with non-stop hours of playing, but it doesnt seem to result to any troubles with me. I love this player to death and highly recommend it.

 

[john_jcb]

I have a 963 that saw early duty as an SACD player but I moved it into the family room for video once I saw its picture quality. It is excellent. I too have had no problems with mine. Somewhere there is a site where you can download a firmware update for the 963.

 

[sephka]

I'm going to offer a voice of dissent here, on the 963SA. However, my experience may be anomalous.

The sound, for both Redbook and SACD, in my opinion, is quite stellar. Perhaps a bit on the bright side, but for the price, it's not a bad deal at all. I did experience some reliability issues that are somewhat troubling. My model is on the older end, and was purchased refurbished, so this may offer a partial explanation to my problems. Anyways, my problems involve very unreliable mp3 CD playback (to the point where it's unlistenable most of the time), clicking sounds when the machine is spinning CDs and DVDs (perhaps not a reliability issue, but an annoyance at least) and general laser sensitivity - this thing wants your CDs to be without a scratch or speck of dust in my experience. I know the clicking issue is common, but I’m not sure about the laser sensitivity and essential lack of mp3-CD playback reliability.

 

[bundee1]

Thanks and keep 'em coming!

 

[mrwinick]

I've had it for a few weeks. No problems. No clicking. No extremely hot cd's. I'm very happy with the sound quality.

 

[bundee1]

Can the 963 owners post their firmware and if they are using it in progressive or intrelaced modes?