SACD Players

JADE:Its matter if you want to continue and build upon available. In such as case, current sound is less important then expected in future. it much better to start with good engineering rather then bad. If you are only interested in stock, you are 100% correct - Simon

Doug: Haven't heard the Accuphase. I'm sure it's impressive, although take a look at the thread SACD Demo, from last November, where several posters heard an unbroken-in sample of the combo and gave it mixed reviews. Also, Stereophile reviews it this month, for what it's worth, and Scull does draw some comparisons with the Sony and Marantz units he reviewed earlier. I didn't want to spend a lot on a new medium which might not make it, so I waited until the price on the Sony SCD777 ES came down to $1600, then had Jerry Ozment of Audio Logic bypass the analog stage and attach the tubed analog stage from his 2400 DAC, with separate power supply, to the Sony. I think the resulting unit sounds very close to my Forsell/Audio Logic 2400 digital rig, I didn't have to spend anywhere near the $24,000 for the Accuphase, and I got to feel like I'd put my money where my mouth was to give what I perceived as an improvement over the CD medium a chance to succeed. Your earlier question about other high end manufacturers making these machines probably is rooted in the fact that it's an expensive risk for them, many of whom don't have the capital to put into the R&D necessary for a medium that might not be a commercial success. Sony, Philips and Accuphase do have that kind of capital. Hopefully, with the added feature of 6-channel sound, they can make the format succeed.

I have to agree with Jade, tech-talk notwithstanding, the Sony unit I have sounds better playing red book CD's than any previous, significantly more expensive players I had, including upsampling from dCS gear. At about 1/10th the cost. And the SACD is even better, albeit not WAY better, and is significantly software dependent. And along with Myles, my vinyl setup (Basis 2500, Graham 2, Miyabi cart) still sounds far better than any CD I've heard, and I'll give you I've not heard them all, including SACD. Having said that, regardless of what's going on with PCM or DSD, the low price SACD units are an incredible bang for the buck. I've been through 7-8 DAC's/Transports in the last 5-6 years, some ludicrously expensive, and I honestly like the $1800 777es better, and I listen to mostly red book. On certain recordings, the SACD is even better which I consider an added bonus.