First SACD Player

[jordansugars]

Hi all, I've been doing a bit (too much) searching around the place for my first SACD player and looking to spend around $300-400 AUD (~$220-300 USD). I'm interested primarily in good SACD as well as decent redbook playback and DVD-A is not a concern. From the looks of things the Oppo DV-970HD looks to be a pretty good option, as does the Sony SCD-CE595 (no great deals on this like in the US though). There's also a pretty good price on the Yamaha S567B, which is a single disc player version of the c750b as far as I know. Anyhow, so many of you have knowledge about this kind of thing so I'm asking for your recommendation; any help will be very much appreciated.
Cheers everyone, thanks for your time.

 

[infinitesymphony]

The Oppo DV-970HD converts the DSD stream to 24-bit 88.2 kHz PCM before sending it to the DAC, which probably isn't what you want. Other Head-Fiers have said the audio section in the Oppo leaves something to be desired, anyway.

Sony is probably the only budget option brand for a new player that does true DSD decoding.

 

[jordansugars]

Cheers, the Oppo might not be such a good option then. The other player I was considering was the Yamaha DVDC750, does anyone have any idea how it goes with SACD's?

 

[infinitesymphony]

It appears that the DVD-C750 also converts to PCM.

 

[jordansugars]

Cheers, does anybody know if the Cambridge Audio DVD89 also converts to PCM? This seems to be the only other option, otherwise it will be the Sony. BTW I really appreciate your helping out in another "what should I buy?" thread.

 

[infinitesymphony]

The Cambridge Audio DVD89 seems to use most of the same components as the Oppo, so my guess is that it also converts to PCM. However, most people think the conversion to PCM has little effect on sound quality, and I've read some technical documents that claim conversion to PCM is the best method. So, YMMV.

 

[soundboy]

Have you considered Onkyo's new 504 single-disc universal player? Or maybe Sony's offerings given DVD-A is not a concern?

 

[Uncle Erik]

I'd take a close look at the Sony SCD-CE595. I had one for about six months and it really sold me on the format. I gifted it at Christmas since I upgraded to the Marantz SA8001. There are a couple of threads on the CE595 here, be sure to read them. I'd recommend the CE595 as a starter- it sold me on the format.

As for the price, look at eBay. The shipping might not be so great, but you should be able to save some money. Spend anything left over on SACDs. Once you hear them, you'll want more.

 

[humanflyz]

Does the Marantz SA8001 do DSD to PCM conversion? Or does it do DSD-direct?

 

[jordansugars]

Soundboy: No I had not even heard of the Onkyo player you mentioned. It looks quite good but there doesn't seem to be any in Australia yet.

Uncle Erik: I've read quie a bit about the Sony on these forums and it was going to be my choice. It being a little bit older now I wanted to see if there was anything else out that might rival the SCD-CE595 as a good entry-level SACD player.

 

[jordansugars]

That Onkyo DV-SP504 looks like it might be a good player, has anyone heard one?

 

[jordansugars]

I guess a better question to ask is: for around the price of the CE595 (which is about $270 USD here in Australia!), has anything been released that is beats it for SACD playback?

 

[Redo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jordansugars /img/forum/go_quote.gif I guess a better question to ask is: for around the price of the CE595 (which is about $270 USD here in Australia!), has anything been released that is beats it for SACD playback?

I really doubt you're going to find anything to match the CE595 unless you spend twice as much or more. Especially for SACD playback.