CD and SACD player under $500

Mark,

I just bought the Oppo BDP-83 Blue Ray Player. It replaced my Sony SCD-777ES SACD/CD player & my Arcam DV-29 DVD player. Both these players retailed at around $3K new.
This Oppo sounds noticeably better than my Sony, on both SACD & Redbook CD. Also, because of Blue Ray, it looks just way better than the Arcam on video.
This player also has a 20 step variable out that you can operate from the remote. This is a big plus to me, I'm using a Sony XA7ES with variable out in my bedroom system,
directly into my First Watt J2. I'm considering moving the Oppo to my bedroom, and getting the Oppo SE for my living room audio/video system.
The best part for me is, this player comes in at your price point new, in the box.

Be bold! Buy a Sony 595 refurb for $60 from SonyStyle, shipped free. They will come get it if you don't like it. Little to lose, except hi-end mortification. The key here is to keep an open mind and not let your wallet tell you it can't be any good.

I bought a Sony 595 SACD changer after hearing Buconero rave about it on several threads.I was hoping it sucked so I could bust his chops!! This thing actually sounds pretty good.I installed a Lite DAC Ah(another excellent,cheap piece of equipment) on the optical outputs for red book playback.It's not going to replace my Cary,but,you can't go wrong for the price.Check it out.

I bought one the cheap Sony as did Tpreaves. Mine is packed up in the closet as I found it a bit harsh. Maybe I'll try a dac with it. But be advised, for $65 it's a nice player, not a great player. As for the Oppo, I haven't heard the BDP-83 but my DV-980H is way over rated as a music player IMHO.

You may want to look at a used Marantz DV Series player. I went from a Sony 222ES to a Marantz DV7001. Major improvment all around. I have also heard the DV8400, which is also a very nice player.