bundee1
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2002
- Posts
- 2,955
- Likes
- 12
I finally got my 963sa yesterday from onecall.com for $255 total (thanks for the heads up on this great deal!). I hooked it up to my Jolida 1501 with SR Alpha cables, the rest of my system is listed below.
Heres a quick list of strengths and weaknesses for each player.
Philips 963
Strengths
-nice deep soundstage with good image placement.
Instruments seem to come out of thin air one in front of the other. They are very well seperated. You can picture the way the band is set up on stage. It gives the music more of a "live performance" feel.
-Good midrange.
This seems to emphasize vocals making them sound more powerful. Cymbals sound very good and instruments have good decay.
Weaknesses
-bass is weak which detracts from rhythm. Backing instruments seem to get buried by upfront vocals. This also makes the music sound lean, sometimes digital.
-When music gets busy the soundstage gets crowded which interrupts the flow. (I hypothesise that this has to do with the capacitors getting drained quickly. The caps are one of the first things that get replaced by modders.)
Some side notes:
I did most of my listening with the upsampling off. On some discs the 96k upsampling smoothed the sound out but at the cost of detail. The sound without upsampling sounds very "high end" to me. Its probably the best sounding dvd cd player under $300 that Ive ever heard (Ive owned 5 so far;
2 Sonys, 2 Pannys, Samsung). Discs on my player do get hot enought to burn a child, luckily I have a high pain threshold. This was only after about 90 mins of playing cds and I have about 4" of clearance above the player. It takes about 10 seconds to load a disc. Thank God and knock on wood this unit doesnt click. One some discs with upsampling on I couldnt tell the difference between this player and the Music Hall. Upsampling sometimes just sounds like added reverb on some music.
Music Hall MMF CD25
Strengths
- Good attack which contributes to the flow(I know its a corny cliche but it gets my toe tapping and my head nodding).
- The sound is more cohesive. By this I mean no part of the music is emphasised over another. Vocals, drums, guitars and backing instruments are all represented equally. Details are there and not glossed over. I thinks this lends to the smooth character of this player. Instruments sound fuller or seem to have more body.
-Wiiiiiiiiiiide soundstage and good imaging. Music extends a couple of feet to the left and right of the speakers. Like I mentioned above instruments are all on the same plane with equal volume. Background musicians such as tambourines, and second guitars are clearly heard. This also seems to contribute to the flow of the music. This player excels at getting the most out of a recording.
Weaknesses
- Can sound a little lean compared to other players, but in my system it sounds good.
Some side notes
HDCD is excellent with this player and is a big advantage over the 963 on encoded discs, even better than upsampling. The build quality is top notch. The old phaser style remote I have sucks.
Conclusion:
If you can get a used Music Hall for around $300-$350 jump on it. Its a helluva cdp for all kinds of music. It reproduces a recording very well. It helps me appreciate all the effort that goes into producing good music because I can hear everything that goes into it.
For $250 new, you cant ask for a more complete player than the Philips 963. More than respectable cd playback w/upsampling, good sacd playback, very good dvd playback (if your unit doesnt have any defects). I think this players gives music a more "live event" quality to music , which lends itself to jazz and acoustic discs.
This unit helped me appreciate my Music Hall even more, which doesnt mean I dont like the sound from the Philips, I just prefer my music to sound like a good recording rather than a live performance. I sold my B&K amp/PS Audio pre combo because of this. It sounded great with certain music but it didnt rock me enough to keep it. For those of you who prefer it the other way around this could be the player for you.
Heres a quick list of strengths and weaknesses for each player.
Philips 963
Strengths
-nice deep soundstage with good image placement.
Instruments seem to come out of thin air one in front of the other. They are very well seperated. You can picture the way the band is set up on stage. It gives the music more of a "live performance" feel.
-Good midrange.
This seems to emphasize vocals making them sound more powerful. Cymbals sound very good and instruments have good decay.
Weaknesses
-bass is weak which detracts from rhythm. Backing instruments seem to get buried by upfront vocals. This also makes the music sound lean, sometimes digital.
-When music gets busy the soundstage gets crowded which interrupts the flow. (I hypothesise that this has to do with the capacitors getting drained quickly. The caps are one of the first things that get replaced by modders.)
Some side notes:
I did most of my listening with the upsampling off. On some discs the 96k upsampling smoothed the sound out but at the cost of detail. The sound without upsampling sounds very "high end" to me. Its probably the best sounding dvd cd player under $300 that Ive ever heard (Ive owned 5 so far;
2 Sonys, 2 Pannys, Samsung). Discs on my player do get hot enought to burn a child, luckily I have a high pain threshold. This was only after about 90 mins of playing cds and I have about 4" of clearance above the player. It takes about 10 seconds to load a disc. Thank God and knock on wood this unit doesnt click. One some discs with upsampling on I couldnt tell the difference between this player and the Music Hall. Upsampling sometimes just sounds like added reverb on some music.
Music Hall MMF CD25
Strengths
- Good attack which contributes to the flow(I know its a corny cliche but it gets my toe tapping and my head nodding).
- The sound is more cohesive. By this I mean no part of the music is emphasised over another. Vocals, drums, guitars and backing instruments are all represented equally. Details are there and not glossed over. I thinks this lends to the smooth character of this player. Instruments sound fuller or seem to have more body.
-Wiiiiiiiiiiide soundstage and good imaging. Music extends a couple of feet to the left and right of the speakers. Like I mentioned above instruments are all on the same plane with equal volume. Background musicians such as tambourines, and second guitars are clearly heard. This also seems to contribute to the flow of the music. This player excels at getting the most out of a recording.
Weaknesses
- Can sound a little lean compared to other players, but in my system it sounds good.
Some side notes
HDCD is excellent with this player and is a big advantage over the 963 on encoded discs, even better than upsampling. The build quality is top notch. The old phaser style remote I have sucks.
Conclusion:
If you can get a used Music Hall for around $300-$350 jump on it. Its a helluva cdp for all kinds of music. It reproduces a recording very well. It helps me appreciate all the effort that goes into producing good music because I can hear everything that goes into it.
For $250 new, you cant ask for a more complete player than the Philips 963. More than respectable cd playback w/upsampling, good sacd playback, very good dvd playback (if your unit doesnt have any defects). I think this players gives music a more "live event" quality to music , which lends itself to jazz and acoustic discs.
This unit helped me appreciate my Music Hall even more, which doesnt mean I dont like the sound from the Philips, I just prefer my music to sound like a good recording rather than a live performance. I sold my B&K amp/PS Audio pre combo because of this. It sounded great with certain music but it didnt rock me enough to keep it. For those of you who prefer it the other way around this could be the player for you.
