[earwicker7]

I recently purchased an Opus 21 CD player with the Great Northern Sounds reference upgrade. Holy crap, it sounds awesome!!!

The only downside is that it doesn't play SACDs. The official website for the Opus 21 is, IMO, very misleading about this, saying it "reads" SACD hybrids. Well, pardon me, Pierre, but that sounds like playing to me

. So basically, I don't have any way to play the SACDs I bought while waiting for my Opus 21. Well, ok, they're hybrids, so I can play them, but not the way they're meant to be played.

After talking to the guys over at Great Northern Sounds, I understand why it only plays CDs--they said that the more types of media you focus on, the lower the sound quality. Makes sense, I guess.

So, I was wondering if there are any reasonably priced audiophile grade (yes, that's somewhat contradictory) SACD-only players out there?

 

[xxlMusikfreak]

Afaik there is no SACD-only player on the market. Every SACD-Player can play redbook too.

 

[earwicker7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by xxlMusikfreak /img/forum/go_quote.gif Afaik there is no SACD-only player on the market. Every SACD-Player can play redbook too.

Hmm, I probably can't justify spending money on something I kind of already have (the Redbook part).

 

[Mindless]

Quote:

Originally Posted by earwicker7 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hmm, I probably can't justify spending money on something I kind of already have (the Redbook part).

You mean you can't upgrade because it's reverse-compatible?

As Musikfreak said though I doubt there are any SACD-only players.

 

[earwicker7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mindless /img/forum/go_quote.gif You mean you can't upgrade because it's reverse-compatible? As Musikfreak said though I doubt there are any SACD-only players.

I guess I'm saying I just spent $5,000 on a CD player I love, which I'm not getting rid of. And I'm not paying $5,000 just to listen to SACDs. I figured that maybe stuff that only played SACD might be a little cheaper than universal players. Plus there's what GNS told me, that a CD player should focus on one type of media.

 

[Salt Peanuts]

What do you mean by "reasonably priced"?

 

[earwicker7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Salt Peanuts /img/forum/go_quote.gif What do you mean by "reasonably priced"?

Well, since there isn't a huge amount of SACDs out there, I can handle buying used, so maybe $2K.

This isn't something I'm completely committed to... I keep swearing that I won't buy more equipment as I've blown a HUGE wad of money on headphone related stuff in the past few months. Right now I'm just testing the waters.

 

[sejarzo]

Given that it appears support for SACD is not on as firm ground as Sony had anticipated it would be a few years ago........I sincerely doubt that any manufacturer would waste R&D money on an SACD-only player. Look at the discs out there, most are hybrids......so both the software and hardware money is "non-committed" at this time.

 

[CanMad]

As you have invested so heavily in a very fine redbook player (I am going by all the reviews I have read, unfortunately I am yet to hear it), I am not sure it's worth seeking out a cheaper SACD player. I bought a Denon A11 (the 5900 in US I think) which is a universal player. I found the redbook quality lacking, so I purchased a Benchmark DAC1. The DAC1 was so good that I then found Redbook playback through the Benchmark exceeded the A11 on SACD playback in a number of areas. I could still hear the smooth naturalness of SACD, but it lacked the pinpoint focus of the DAC1 and possibly some of the detail, so I then found myself wanting to improve my SACD playback to gain similar performance. I ended up with a higher end universal (I have a number of DVD-A's also), which is superb on CD also, the Townshend 565, which to my ears surpasses that of the Benchmark (it is possible that it doesn't measure as well as the DAC1 though).

All SACD players that I have seen also play redbook discs. A lot of the highend ones are supposed to be very good at CD playback also, I'm thinking Meitner, Esoteric, Linn Unidisk 1.1 etc. I also have read very favourable reviews of the Ayre C-5xe universal player including it's Redbook playback. So it definitely is possible to get excellent sounding redbook players that play other formats also, but this does cost. The Townshend is a relative bargain for it's performance, but it does still cost 3000 pounds so it would still be at least $6000 USD if it was available in the US, which is $1000 more than your modded Opus 21.

Anyway my concern is that assuming the modded Opus 21 performs even better than the rave reviews of the stock version say it does, then with a relatively cheap SACD player, you may find you still prefer redbook overall on the Opus 21 than SACD on your new player. So unless you plan on investing heavily on SACD media, then it may not be worth the effort. Better to spend the $2000 on more well recorded CD's. Especially as has been pointed out SACD releases that are not classical or Jazz are pretty thin on the ground, although this may be your main listening preference.

I'd certainly recommend auditioning your SACD's on a few players first, and judging with your own ears whether the gains are there to be had for $2000 dollars, I suspect not.

 

[grawk]

There's a heavily modded philips sacd1000 on a'gon right now that should sound spectacular. I know tkam has one (to go with his opus 21...) and it sounds great.

 

[Blackmore]

Take a look at PIONEER PD-D6-J SACD player. Cost not much at all, but looks pretty nice. I am thinking to get one myself a bit later.

http://www.pioneer.co.uk/uk/products...6-J/index.html

Cheers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by earwicker7 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I recently purchased an Opus 21 CD player with the Great Northern Sounds reference upgrade. Holy crap, it sounds awesome!!! The only downside is that it doesn't play SACDs. The official website for the Opus 21 is, IMO, very misleading about this, saying it "reads" SACD hybrids. Well, pardon me, Pierre, but that sounds like playing to me . So basically, I don't have any way to play the SACDs I bought while waiting for my Opus 21. Well, ok, they're hybrids, so I can play them, but not the way they're meant to be played. After talking to the guys over at Great Northern Sounds, I understand why it only plays CDs--they said that the more types of media you focus on, the lower the sound quality. Makes sense, I guess. So, I was wondering if there are any reasonably priced audiophile grade (yes, that's somewhat contradictory) SACD-only players out there?

 

[Mindless]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blackmore /img/forum/go_quote.gif Take a look at PIONEER PD-D6-J SACD player. Cost not much at all, but looks pretty nice. I am thinking to get one myself a bit later. http://www.pioneer.co.uk/uk/products...6-J/index.html Cheers.

My brother has it and it's quite alright for the price. Though, the difference between SACD and a conventional CD are questionable for me. I just don't hear it. Might be the recording, might be my ears...

 

[Michgelsen]

Do you want stereo only or multichannel?

 

[cherepashka]

Do you have DVD-player??? If yes, What?, cause it can play cd's too!

 

[Blackmore]

Hmmm...

Well, this player is like EUR 400 new. In the same league is Cambridge Audio, but only CDP.
Do you think it is better to get extra bucks together and buy something else? Which one then?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mindless /img/forum/go_quote.gif My brother has it and it's quite alright for the price. Though, the difference between SACD and a conventional CD are questionable for me. I just don't hear it. Might be the recording, might be my ears...