[daffa]

I need your advise about two things :

1) What is the quality of CD played in a SACD/CD player? Does the SACD feature add richness of the CD playback, or has an effect on it?

2) How about the comparison between CD playback in SACD/CD player with a CD player (CD only) with 24 Bit Burr-Brown Sigma Delta Chip.

I am thinking to upgrade my source to NAD C540 with Burr-Brown but I also begin to enjoy SACD sounds. Bought first of my SACD (Patrica Barber) and I was amazed with its sonic quality even from my PCDP! I have limited budget so I was torn between a hi-end CD player and my increasingly fondness of SACD. Which direction shall I go?

One more thing, I have large collection of CDs including the MoFis, XRCDs and 20 bit remasters. If I buy SACD/CD player I am afraid I will end up with buying more discs (SACDs) and give up the chance to listen to my CDs from the best source.

Or anybody know SACD/CD player with a high level CD playback?

Thanks
DJ

 

[Calanctus]

daffa, you will probably get differing opinions on whether there are any SACD players that really sound good--or as good for the same money--as CD-only players. I will restrict myself to giving my opinion, and backing it up a bit, on a product I own: the Sony XA777ES. It sounds very good indeed on both CD and SACD. I've A/B'd it quite a bit with a Musical Fidelity A324 in and out of the loop, and on most CDs the Sony is equally good. I've also had a few folks who are much more experienced audiophiles than I am listen to my setup. They have invariably been impressed with CD-only performance.

Stereophile also liked it. Furthermore if you do a search on AudioAsylum in the hi-rez forum, you'll get a number of opinions, most of which seem to be favourable with respect to CD playback of this model.

 

[markl]

The answers to #1 and #2 are: it varies from model to model and price point to price point (of course). What is your budget?

Your best bet is to just audition one. What is your current source? How old is it and how much was it new? If it's more than 5 years old and retailed for under $500, I'd be willing to bet any moderately-priced (~$500) SACDP/DVD-A player will out-perform it on Redbook CDs. The "problem" is that all of the combi-players (that play both SACD and DVD-A) out today are by the mass-market companies, but that doesn't necessarily mean they "suck". In general, the DACs in the SACDPs and DVD-A players are much more powerful and sophisticated than regular Redbook CD DACs, and they need to be to handle the additional data and better specs of the new formats. This of course has extra benefits on regular CD playback as well. But as I'm sure you know, there's much more to how any CDP will sound besides the DACs it uses.

If you have big bucks to spend, many "high-end" manufacturers will be releasing SACDPs or DVD-A players in the near term, but at the moment, there aren't many.
Otherwise, your choices at the "high-end" off the top of my head include a $3K Denon DVD-A player, a $5K Ayre DVD-A player, a $5K Accuphase SACDP, and the Sony XA777ES.

Mark

 

[daffa]

For CDP my budget is around $500. I am willing to put more money for SACD/CD players only if it is worthed.
Thanks
DJ

 

[fredpb]

If you want to spend only $500, you may have to hit the used market.

A format type unit does not always deliver better quality sound than an "older format" unit.

 

[ServinginEcuador]

Just to throw my .02 into the mix, I would wait until one format is chosen as the standard, AND for more titles to come out in that format before I decide to spend the money on the purchase. If you wait a few months to see who will win out the next format battle you may save yourself some money and headache in changing formats yet again!!!

 

[richpjr]

Color me skeptical, but do you really think that any format battles will be decided in a matter of a few months? I'd say more like a few years...

 

[ServinginEcuador]

Quote:

Originally posted by richpjr Color me skeptical, but do you really think that any format battles will be decided in a matter of a few months? I'd say more like a few years...

I'm an eternal ooptimist, what can I say!!

It may well be years, but I'll wait thank you!! Not in any hurry to go our and spend money on a new CDP or new recordings of my music. Way too much money for me to spend!!