[earwicker7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CanMad /img/forum/go_quote.gif 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 think you might be right on this one. After thinking about it for a while, it seems like SACD is dying a slow death so I'd be investing a lot of money just to play a handful of CDs. Instead, I'm going to be investing that money to do a few upgrades, like the isolation platform I just ordered for my VPI Scout.

 

[tourmaline]

Perhaps a denon 700ea about 400 euro's/dollars.
or a cheaper sony sacdplayer.

I concur with some posters above; a really good redbook player can be as good or very, very close to sacd. It all depends on the recording! Ultra high end redbook players still beat sacd.

 

[Mindless]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blackmore /img/forum/go_quote.gif 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?

I can't really tell. I bought my current CDP because it sounded great to me, but it cost me a smaller fortune. For €400 the Pioneer is great in my opinion, but you can't really compare it to stuff that's almost ten times as expensive (my CDP for example).

To me the value of sources has gone up significantly since I upgraded, so for me it's worth to save a few more bucks and go for a more expensive CDP. As for which one, it's really not my place to say. My ears are not yours. Best way to decide is to actually try listening to the stuff with the gear you intend to use with it.

On topic though:

Quote:

Originally Posted by earwicker7 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I think you might be right on this one. After thinking about it for a while, it seems like SACD is dying a slow death so I'd be investing a lot of money just to play a handful of CDs. Instead, I'm going to be investing that money to do a few upgrades, like the isolation platform I just ordered for my VPI Scout.

Yes, I think that would be best. To me, the difference between SACD and conventional CDs have almost been unaudible, especially with higher-end redbook players (such as yours, such as mine). Spend the money on more CDs or a isolation platform as you suggested yourself. I'm sure you'll be much more satisfied with that.

 

[mrarroyo]

How about a refurbished Sony SCD-CE595 at $59.97 directly from Sony USA?

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/...5730&langId=-1

 

[howiebrou]

Quote:

Originally Posted by earwicker7 /img/forum/go_quote.gif 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.

There are no SACD only players. All SACD players will play redbook. If you want to get a player that plays the SACD layer of your hybrid (or 100% SACD) disks that will sound better than your 5k redbook player then you will need to spend big bucks. A cheap sacd player playing sacds will not sound better than a good redbook player. You will be wasting your money imho.

There are some very good universal players around. Some are sacd / redbook e.g. EMM labs, T+A, Marantz, Accuphase, Mcintosh, Krell. Some are DVD-A / redbook e.g. Meridian. Some are universal e.g. Esoteric, Ayre. Yes the sound of a universal player could most likely be improved if you restrict the formats (hence Meridian's 808 redbook / dvdA player vs. 800 which has DVD-Video as well) but a high-end universal will still beat the pants off a cheap redbook only player.

If you want to get a player that will sound great on redbook and great on SACD you need a great (and prob expensive) SACD/Redbook player. Trade up or forget about the SACD layer on your discs IMHO.

howie

edit: there is one possible reason i can think of to get a cheap sacd player and that is if you have a sacd with different recordings on each layer e.g. some by M.A. recordings. In which case your sacd player is not there to get the potentially better sound from the sacd layer but it is to get the recordings which would otherwise be inaccessible.

 

[MatsudaMan]

Marantz has a great player: Sa-7001 - you can find it for around 700 bucks. Go on audiogon and you can find it used for even less. Really great player.

 

[ldj325]

The Oppo 970HD is a universal player, but it's best SQ is with the SACD. Within software set up you can turn off a lot of non-audio features. It's only $150. But before you dismiss it you might want to read the Stereophile write up in June or May that A/Bed it against the 6K Ayre player.

There are two newer models the 981 which is not supposed to be as good on audio playback and the brand new 980. I just got off the line with Oppo tech support and supposedly the 980 has better audio playback than the 970. He mentioned a DAC upgrade in the 980 and I think better resistors.

 

[soundboy]

This is Oppo's response to inquiries about the sound quality of the 980 vs. those of the 970, as posted on another forum....

Quote:

The tonal qualities of the DV-980H should surpass that of the DV-970HD. The main reason for this is that we hand selected new capacitor and resistor manufacturers, redesigned the DAC layout, are using an improved Cirrus Logic CS4361 DAC and the latest, heavily modified MTK solution for increased audio decoding fidelity. The end result is a system that is more robust and refined over our previous DVD player designs.

 

[ldj325]

Quote:

Originally Posted by soundboy /img/forum/go_quote.gif This is Oppo's response to inquiries about the sound quality of the 980 vs. those of the 970, as posted on another forum....

I wonder how the audiophile world will evaluate the new 980 sound quality? I say this not being a real technical person and knowing nothing of the inner components in the Oppo 970 or 980. And believe me I have no special inside information that is behind this post.

I pose this question because from my reading about the Oppo, it seems like it has no business performing as well as it does on SACD playback. It has at least held it's own in direct comparison to at least one player costing tens of times more. I wonder how much of this is due to the quality of components inside it and how much is due to some special synergy between components. In the later case an "upgrade" could alter the synergy and not really be an upgrade. I suppose only time, and enough folks listening to it, will tell.