Cambridge Audio D500SE CD player

Hello Mike. I will post a bit more on this player in the future. Yes, the sound has improved. But, still not to the point where I could be considered happy. Or that it is very much better than my old Pioneer. A bit off putting, considering all the rave reviews this player garnishes. In my opinion, it is equal to or better than the previous generation Rega Planet. My dealer prefers it to the Rega Planet 2000(which he also sells - but I did not audition). That factors in sound, build quality(which he finds the Planet 2000 poor), ergonomics, and price. And at least as good as everything I have heard from the Planet's price point downward. The reason I have not upgraded before is that no player seemed to improve the sound of my system enough to justify its cost. But, my old player was starting to act wacky, so I decided to make my move(I waited for 3 years). Currently, I have been running the player on repeat(with a different CD every day - different types of music) since midday Monday. I will continue to do so until this coming Sunday or Monday. Then, I feel I will be better able to discuss the sound quality. I would like to comment on the areas I usually see the product being trashed in. That would be the build quality, fascia, controls, jog shuttle, display, and remote. In short, the ergonomics. I have been very pleasantly surprised by these areas. Unexpected, especially in light of all I have read. Build quality seems fine. I know a lot of mass - fi players that have been rolling on for 10 - 15 years, with no problems. This player seems as well built, if not better as those products. The fascia is plastic. That is a fact. It's a $450 player, and most everything in this world is built to a price. They chose to cut corners on the outside, rather than the internals(which supposedly compares to players even 3X its price). Smart move in my book. An audiophile would favor that tradeoff. I know I do. I am interested buying a player for its sound; I don't need a piece of audio jewelry. The controls are fine. At least as good as anything else I have used. I LOVE the jog shuttle. It is simple(also quite handy and effective) to work, despite what I have read. I shivver to think I am sharing the highways of this country with people who do not feel comfortable with this control. I would hate to see them operate a motor vehicle if they cannot twist a knob one way or another. While I cannot say the display is as bright as a beacon, I have no trouble reading it. There is no time remaining feature on the display. I cannot defend that. But, I am sure they are not the only ones who have left this off. There is no keypad on the player itself. So you cannot program the player by using the front panel. That is not uncommon(maybe even dominant) in the high end. You can, however do all of that and more on the remote control. I find the remote as good as anything else I have been around. The remote has always been trashed. This remote is wonderful, in my opinion. Perhaps they have upgraded it from previous models. And you can open/close the transport from the remote now. To sum it up, I find the ergonomics of the player to be very good indeed. I will try to purchase a SACD this weekend to address the issue of playback of that format. Although my dealer was steadfast in his assertion it will, I do not believe it. If it did, it would be marketed that way. And maybe they would charge a lot more for this machine. I just hope the player becomes worth the price of upgrade to me. As of yet, I would have to recommend waiting until universal players become available.

Trelja, when you get the SACD make sure it's not a hybrid disc, or else your player will play the CD layer and not the SACD layer. If you want, contact me and I can send you the Sony sampler, which I got with my SACD player and I think is only a single layer SACD (as are all of the Sony discs)--that would save you some money if your unit won't play it.

I will e-mail you Rcprince. Thanks for the heads up. I know that a good amount of the SACD are hybrids, so they will be backward compatible. Read it in the initial Sony ad for SACD. It seemed like they want it that way.

Trelja: What do you have the player resting on and are you using the stock cord? I have found that both of these issues can increase the sound quality of digital greatly. The few players that I have home demoed with my HT cord and Vibrapod platform sounded much better in my system than at the shop without these little extras (even with the room(s) aside, I think).

Actually, Sony's discs are ALL single layer discs(!!). Their idea of backward compatibility is that the SACD player will play both CDs and SACDs. I question their judgment, given that virtually all, if not all, of the other SACD releases are hybrid discs. But then, I don't have a balance sheet that can match theirs, so what do I know....