I've have the Marantz SA-15S2b and really like what I hear with it. I didn't know a SACD player could make redbook sound so much better than on a regular CD player.
Before the Marantz, I had a Consonance CD player that played just standard redbook (no over/upsampling) and thought the world of it, but the Marantz had much deeper and better articulated bass, richer (more fuller and developed) mids, and extended highs. All of it amounted to greater presence.
Before anyone flames about streaming and that the CD is dead, the best digital I've heard was a few shows ago at Newport and it was in the MSB room when I listened to what I thought was the best PC audio at the show and it was "just" a CD playing. One can go on and on about the limitations of CD and what can go wrong but it doesn't mean that it necessarily will go wrong.
Luddite that I am, I'll eventually dip my toes in the PC water, but as for now.....
All the best,
Nonoise
