Marantz SA-1 SACD player....worth it ?

I have no doubt that the Marantz is good, perhaps it is better than the Sony. Why don't you simply look at the numbers and take a deep breath.........Sony $1075.00..............Marantz with huge discount.......$4750.00. The Marantz had better be several models ahead of the competition, or you are setting yourself up for a fairly sizable loss when new models come out. SACD is still in it's infancy. You should ask yourself, do you really have enough of a software library to justify the difference between the two (assuming the Marantz IS any better performance). I hope I do not sound harsh, I just had to make this decision myself. I bought the Sony 9000, shamelessly, due to it's low selling price and great DVD image quality.

I have the Sony SACD-1, I'd go with the advice of Albert and check out the 9000. I love my unit, but given the fantastic reviews of the 9000 here on Audiogon, I think it would be silly to spend more! J.D.

Thank you for the good sense feedback. I have yet heard anyone tell me the the Marantz SA-1 is worth spending $4750 even with the huge discount. You know how it is, sometimes you read in to it too much. And must have the latest and greatest toy. Stereophile tries to suck you in with there now A+ rating. I will look into the Sony 9000 or the 333. I thought the 9000 though, was a dvd player too?
Thanks again.

Just another thought--the second generation SACD units are coming out. If Accuphase and dCS have out or are demoing transport units with proprietary feeds to their own DAC's, how far behind can one box units be from Krell, Theta, etc.? How much more than the Marantz are they liable to be?

One other practical detail in favor of a Sony model - if you have one of the Sony credit cards, you can buy the Sony SSACD player of your choice for 12 months interest free - makes it kind of painless! ;>}