Post by k-spin January 20, 2009 (11 of 47)
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hiredfox said:
The Marantz SA7-S1 is the BEST SACD player on this planet bar none and most probably the best CD player as well. It retails in UK at £5000 but they can be picked up new for £3750 from several dealers. Like the now legendary CD7 from the same stable it took a while for the sceptics to come around but come around they did once Martin Colloms (HFN) gave it HIS seal of approval. Don't for one minute think that the SA7 doesn't cost enough to be the World's best at anything. Big Mistake!
This is yet another limited edition masterpiece from Marantz that in three years time will be chased around e-bay by people desperate to get hold of one in good condition because they missed out when it was available new.
Alvin Gold (HFC) tried but failed to find any flaw in its musical presentation. He stated quite categorically that in his opinion this is the best CD player ever with EVEN BETTER SACD and he has heard them all.
That may well be true but the original poster wanted to spend less than £500 :)
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Philip,
I have hesitated to reply because this would go far above the budget you mentioned (500£) but the NAD M5 is currently to my knowledge the least expensive Multichannel audio only SACD / CD player (no DVD or video) (there are one or two others, but at prices going around the 10000$ or more).
That makes approx. 2000€ though, a little more than twice your budget, but believe me, this player is worth every penny you put in it, once you have it, you will never think of a replacement.
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Post by k-spin January 21, 2009 (13 of 47)
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stardreamer said:
Philip,
I have hesitated to reply because this would go far above the budget you mentioned (500£) but the NAD M5 is currently to my knowledge the least expensive Multichannel audio only SACD / CD player (no DVD or video) (there are one or two others, but at prices going around the 10000$ or more).
That makes approx. 2000€ though, a little more than twice your budget, but believe me, this player is worth every penny you put in it, once you have it, you will never think of a replacement.
Hi Stardreamer,
Sony make a couple of fairly cheap audio only MCH SACD players:
Sony SCD-XE597 (available for approx £120)
Sony SCD-XA1200ES (available for approx £500)
You're right though, most of the cheaper models tend to be universal players.
Cheers,
K
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k-spin said:
Hi Stardreamer,
Sony make a couple of fairly cheap audio only MCH SACD players:
Sony SCD-XE597 (available for approx £120)
Sony SCD-XA1200ES (available for approx £500)
You're right though, most of the cheaper models tend to be universal players.
Cheers,
K
Ah yes, indeed! I forgot Sony, my apologies. Thanks for the correction.
The good news is that it makes at least one multichannel audio-only player for each level of budget.
Cheers.
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aoqd22 said:
Thanks for the replies ... I am mostly interested in MCH. I have a dozen or so single layer stereo SACDs plus around 120 RBCDs. I have a spare RBCD player of reasonable quality so its the MCH and single layer SACDs that I want to be sure I can play.
I have the US version of your receiver, and it can decode a direct DSD stream. I would also suggest picking up the Oppo DV-980H, because it will bitstream the DSD signal directly to your Yamaha to decode. That way you'll have the best sound reproduction in your system for for 2 channel stereo or 5.1 multichannel tracks. It only costs $169 in the US, and reviews have it outperforming machines far more expensive. Plus, for what it's worth, it's a fantastic upscaling DVD player too.
Here's a link to it:
http://www.oppodigital.com/dv980h/default.asp
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Be sure to check the mechanical noise of the SACD player before you buy one, some players are "terrible" in this area. E.g. Pioneer PD- D6 j is known to have a high mechanical noise when playing SACDs.
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Post by aoqd22 January 28, 2009 (17 of 47)
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kingofgrills said:
I have the US version of your receiver, and it can decode a direct DSD stream. I would also suggest picking up the Oppo DV-980H, because it will bitstream the DSD signal directly to your Yamaha to decode. That way you'll have the best sound reproduction in your system for for 2 channel stereo or 5.1 multichannel tracks. It only costs $169 in the US, and reviews have it outperforming machines far more expensive. Plus, for what it's worth, it's a fantastic upscaling DVD player too.
Here's a link to it:
http://www.oppodigital.com/dv980h/default.asp
Interesting point. I much appreciate you pointing out the fact the Oppo will bitstream the DSD signal to my receiver.
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Post by Bobpaule February 10, 2009 (18 of 47)
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Another vote for the Oppo, superb when paired with Onkyo 875/PRSC885/Integra9.8.
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Post by hiredfox February 10, 2009 (19 of 47)
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Look guys, when buying for SACD surround you have to be very very careful. As Telarc once used to advise,
"BEWARE of Home Theatre Receivers with DSP... Many multi-channel receiver/amplifiers provide multi-channel analogue inputs that are routed to analog-to-digital PCM converters for Digital Signal Processing control, often at 44.1 kHz. The signals are then passed on to a DAC for final output to speakers.
This 'feature' will cause ALL signals regardless of source to be no better quality than CD playback.... we recommend using a receiver or amplifier that passes multi-channel ANALOGUE signals through entirely in the analogue domain."
A lot of cheap kit will lead you in to this trap.
Are you sure you are listening to SACD surround and not just CD surround?
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Post by aoqd22 February 10, 2009 (20 of 47)
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hiredfox said:
Look guys, when buying for SACD surround you have to be very very careful. As Telarc once used to advise,
"BEWARE of Home Theatre Receivers with DSP... Many multi-channel receiver/amplifiers provide multi-channel analogue inputs that are routed to analog-to-digital PCM converters for Digital Signal Processing control, often at 44.1 kHz. The signals are then passed on to a DAC for final output to speakers.
This 'feature' will cause ALL signals regardless of source to be no better quality than CD playback.... we recommend using a receiver or amplifier that passes multi-channel ANALOGUE signals through entirely in the analogue domain."
A lot of cheap kit will lead you in to this trap.
Are you sure you are listening to SACD surround and not just CD surround?
Interesting point which is making me wonder if I made a big mistake buying my Yamaha DSP-AX861SE in the first place! To be a bit more serious there is a 'Pure Direct' facility on my receiver which I usually use which is supposed to ensure the selected source is played back with the least circuitry. How can I (or anyone else for that matter) be absolutely sure what is going on i.e. what do we look for in the manual to be sure we do not fall in the trap? Also could someone come up with a few recommendations for amplifiers/receivers at less than the equivalent of say £600?
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