Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Best DVD player for PQ & CD AQ?

I'm no golden-eared audiophile, but I can easily discern a difference between SACD and regular CD. I have a few dual-layer CD/SACDs that I can compare against each other. The differences are most apparent in the mid-to-high end of the audio spectrum. Cymbals, acoustic guitars, and female vocals are great demo material for hearing the difference.

This Phillips SACD player is apparently very good, and is now on sale for a great price.

I have love/hate feelings about SACD/DVDa and multi channel music in general.

Recording that (sonicaly) sounded like crap to begin with (before they were rehashed to SACD from old masters) still sound like crap with little improvement. Newer recording (such as Norah Jones'-Come away with me that were mastered with DSD in mind can be breathtaking and I would take these SACD recordings over PCM any day. Some of the older recording put to SACD such as the recent "re-releases" of the Rolling Stones albums definately sound a little better and different than the originals but to me, not enough to justify the extra bucks.

I almost always listen to SACD in stereo. I haven't been able to warm up to multi-ch yet. The problem I have with it is that it bothers me to hear well defined instrument (any instruments) images coming from the surround channels. They seem to be getting better about this as recording engineers get more savy about mixing the tracks but still if you think about it - if they don't place direct images in the surrounds what do they put there?...."ambient sound". But to my humble ears, much of this so called "ambient sound" just sounds like pleasant noise. I guess the idea is to put the listener in the "middle of it all" but I'm just not ready to be up on stage with the band/symphony/choir etc. I'm still happy just to be in the audience.

I'm still on the fence about SACD/DVDa and to coin a phrase from G. "Dubya"...I'm a "fence shitter".

In reply to:

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I'm no golden-eared audiophile

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Really? You sure had me fooled .

Sure, I've bad my ears bronzed, but that's a far cry from gold.

That philips player looks very much like the pioneer I have now, but instead of dvd-a it has sacd.

I'm looking for a major step up from that level of player. I don't want to buy another cd player ever again after this purchase. Thankfully CD technology seems pretty stable. SACD seems to be establishing itself fairly well also. So...CD/SACD player anyone?

I have yet to find ANY DVD-A titles I like. On SACD, Norah Jones is stunning.

Have yet to try the DVD-A functionality of my Denon 2200.

I know...

I have one DVD-A that I ever listen to. (Fleetwood Mac's Rumours) I always stop by the DVD-A section of my local Best Buy, and there's never anything new. The SACD section is right next to it, and there's always new stuff showing up. Bowie, Billy Joel, Peter Gabriel...

I've spent the day surfing the web looking for some info on a really good cd/sacd player, and I'm not finding much. SACD seems to be mostly mass market or super high end. Not much in the way of mid-fi stuff.

still searching...

The Yamaha DVD-S2300 looks like a nice player.
webcenter.soundandvision.netscape.com/electronics/ns/article/0,aid,209,00.asp

Again though, it's a DVD player. I'm really looking for the best possible audio performance. I don't even need video at all. When HD-DVD arrives, I'll purchase a dedicated DVD player then.

Anyone have any experience with this?

Marantz SA-8260