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Hi All, I am in the market for my first ever SACD player, I do have a Sony BDP-380 but it probably is a dumb down version of it, so, I wish to do this properly so to speak, I have come across a couple a Denon DCD 1500AE, Pioneer Elite PDD6J, Marantz SA-KI Pearl Lite, Sony SCD-XE597, Sony QS-ES XB780 and a Marantz SA 8260 any thoughts and suggestions greatly appreciated, my budget would be around the $500 mark and I only use two channel for all of my playback through Weston Acoustic amps but I will consider multi channel. Thanks

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Try and pick up one of the older Sony SCD-1 or SCD777-ES SACD players @ about $1,200 - $1,800 secondhand, these were about RRP $5K new in their day. Superbly smooth and refined sounding with SACD and perhaps a little sharp on CD replay and very close in performance to the Accuphase DP-77 @ RRP $13K, that I also owned. The Sony weighs 28kg and is beautifully built, it has a top-loading disc mechanism and feels like you are launching an ICBM-missile every time you use it! They can be a bit cantankerous reading CDs, but mine is fine with all of my SACDs.

 

The reason I am suggesting that you up your budget is that the lesser players are not all that good with SACDs, you won't notice much of a difference between CDs. The expensive Sony, Marantz, Esoteric and Accuphase players do it very well.

 

Cheers,

 

Steve.

Edited by Steve M
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1 hour ago, Steve M said:

Try and pick up one of the older Sony SCD-1 or SCD777-ES SACD players @ about $1,200 - $1,800 secondhand, these were about RRP $5K new in their day. Superbly smooth and refined sounding with SACD and perhaps a little sharp on CD replay and very close in performance to the Accuphase DP-77 @ RRP $13K, that I also owned. The Sony weighs 28kg and is beautifully built, it has a top-loading disc mechanism and feels like you are launching an ICBM-missile every time you use it! They can be a bit cantankerous reading CDs, but mine is fine with all of my SACDs.

 

The reason I am suggesting that you up your budget is that the lesser players are not all that good with SACDs, you won't notice much of a difference between CDs. The expensive Sony, Marantz, Esoteric and Accuphase players do it very well.

 

Cheers,

 

Steve.

 

But isn't the problem with the Sony's, the lack of spare parts?

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Guest Eggcup The Daft
1 hour ago, Sir Triode said:

 

But isn't the problem with the Sony's, the lack of spare parts?

The same as with a lot of the older and good SACD players.

I compared the Oppo 105 with a few new CD/SACD players - would have been about 3 years ago - and for SACD it was better than the $3-4000 players from the likes of Arcam and Marantz.

 

I remember the older players being better... so I guess if you want a dedicated player you buy an older one and take the risk.

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1 hour ago, Sir Triode said:

 

But isn't the problem with the Sony's, the lack of spare parts?

 

 

Not if you get a good one Trevor ...you are getting a $10K+ SACD sound with the superbly designed 28kg Sony SCD-1 and SCD-777ES that you won't get with the cheaper new stuff. Plus, I don't lie in bed thinking about when my next car crash will come along, I just drive. :P 

 

Steve.

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Maybe the Sony would be a good buy if you get a "good one". 

But my experience with the brand isn't good.  Everything that I owned with the Sony Logo has had some expensive failure, either it be PS2 or Hi8 camcorders, and yes I've had 2 camcorders one hi8 and DV and they were all door stops.  My last 68cm Tinitron failed 2 days before the 5yr warranty ran out. And don't expect support from Sony, it's all contracted out to 3rd party.

if you want laser reliability look elsewhere; something from Pioneer etc.  my brother and parents both have Pioneer DVD players that just won't die....

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Double your budget and pick up a used Marantz Pearl Lite or Marantz SA8005. I used to have the former, now have the latter...There's a split hair between them in sound quality. Great engineering, very good (and silent) transports. Neutral, detailed sound that you can hone to your liking with speaker placement and ancillaries.

Edited by goldiver
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Hi, Oppo ?! No thanks I already have everything it offers, besides sacd, that's why I am only interested in standalone only, plus, I always consider do it alls, a one trick pony, also, I have a Sony bdp 380, so again, no need for another similar device

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17 minutes ago, LinearTracker said:

Hi, Oppo ?! No thanks I already have everything it offers, besides sacd, that's why I am only interested in standalone only..

 

The thing is, with your stated budget, whatever you end up with at that price point probably isn't going to give you anything you don't already have with the OPPO.

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1 hour ago, LinearTracker said:

Hi, Oppo ?! No thanks I already have everything it offers, besides sacd, that's why I am only interested in standalone only, plus, I always consider do it alls, a one trick pony, also, I have a Sony bdp 380, so again, no need for another similar device

 

I have the Sony s470 and the s580.  This are simular to the Sony 380 you already have.

 

I can confirmed that the OPPO 105 is way ahead in the SQ dept of any of the Sony models mentioned above.  The Sony is a bargain at the price point but is nowhere near the capability of the 105 in the 2 channel department.  Yet I do not own any SACD to try.   Functionality usability and feature wise the oppo 105 is a player that holds its own.  If you look inside both players there is a difference in component implementation,  the Sony has a $2.00 WM DAC where the oppo 105 has a Sabre 9018.  The 105 headphone capability is 2nd to none at that price point and doesn't suggest I should go and spend $1000s on a headphone amp.

There are a few oppo 105 in the classifies here at around twice your $500 budget, at $500 younwill struggle to even get the dedicated 28kg boat anchor Sony that's so sort after mentioned in previous post.

 

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1 hour ago, powerav said:

The Geeky alternative is to install Kodi onto a PC and convert all your SACD to dff files and play thru HDMI on standard AVR.

 

Except no PC HDMI output I know of supports DSD over HDMI. They'd be converted to PCM 

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On 30 June 2017 at 7:14 AM, LinearTracker said:

Hi All, I am in the market for my first ever SACD player, I do have a Sony BDP-380 but it probably is a dumb down version of it, so, I wish to do this properly so to speak, I have come across a couple a Denon DCD 1500AE, Pioneer Elite PDD6J, Marantz SA-KI Pearl Lite, Sony SCD-XE597, Sony QS-ES XB780 and a Marantz SA 8260 any thoughts and suggestions greatly appreciated, my budget would be around the $500 mark and I only use two channel for all of my playback through Weston Acoustic amps but I will consider multi channel. Thanks

 From your selection Ki- pearl, sa8260 , dcd1500ae then songs 

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my pick would be the marantz or denon options.... I've owned a flagship sony for some 10+ years.... just too hard to find a good example in good nick these days at something short silly money....

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