Best SACD player for under $500

Well just re-roofed my house and had the house re-piped in copper and on top of that I think I'm doomed to a life of poverty.

Any suggestions?

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PIONEER DV-45A.


Nice little deck, plays stereo and 5.1 SACD, DVD-Audio, DVD's, CDs, you know the drill. Better decks? Yes! For the price? No way!


Don't forget the PayPal button in your posts.... But I know what you mean: tough to swing even the modest stuff sometimes....


ED

 

You mean DV-563A

 

I own this one Larry and it's quite good at SACD and really good at DVD's. I don't have any DVD-A's so I can't comment. Mediocre at redbook though.

 

The Philips 963 is far better than anything else under $500. The Philips transport is much better than the Sony or Pioneer. It even includes 16-bit upsampling and progressive DVD. Have you ever heard of an audiophile player using a Pioneer or Sony transport?

 

Absolutely - some of the best players in the world use Sony transports - the Accuphase DP100 and the DCS verdi transport to name but two.

All the best - Andrew

 

...and of course the Sony 555ES! Well, not really but it's my player and I think it sounds fine.

Todd

 

Same with the Shanling SACD T200. There is nothing wrong with a Sony transport.

 

I've been wondering about sub-$500 SACD units myself. I plan to purchase one for the family for Christmas to play DVDs. This will go in my living room system with a Scott 299-C tube amp. Does anyone have an opion on which has better redbook cd playback between the Pioneer and Philips machines?

 

I'll back Todd on that one!!!!

 

The Denon 2200 goes for somewhere between 500 and 600, and is reputed to be a fine universal player.

You could scout around for a used Sony 775--I think it does a great job for the price on SACD and a good job on redbook too.

My Pioneer 563A had a veiled and 2D presentation on SACD but very good DVD-A playback.

 

The transport that is in the SCD1 and the SCD-777ES is first class. All other Sony transports are well below that standard, which is a shame.

 

Have you ever heard of an audiophile player using a Pioneer or Sony transport?

Yep. Wadia uses the Pioneer stable platter transport on certain models. I'm actually amazed at the low confidence inspiring transport mechanisms used on some current high dollar CDP models.

Jet

 

Well, alright, there are a couple of Sony/Pioneer transports in the world. . . It was really more of a rhetorical question. Yes, even Sony did make an expensive reference SACD player a couple of times, even a new one in Stereophile this month. But, those transports aren't in the same family as those supplied in the under $500 or even $1500 catagory. Maybe DCS used one and then completely modified to fit into that unit, but what about the rest of the 99% of the market? Philips supplies the vast vast majority of transports to the digital world.

Anyway, I thought this discussion centered on the best of the under $500? Has anyone listened to a $500 Sony/Pioneer versus a $500 Philips? There's no comparison when it comes to the cd playback. Sony players suffer from poor cd playback. Their SACD playback is much better, but the cd playback is very dark.

 

I've had my 963SA for just over a month now and really like it. CD playback is much better than my Cary CD303 ever was. This is my 1st SACD player so I can't compare it with anything but the SACD's I do own sound pretty nice.
Upsampling at 24/96 or 24/192 is a nice feature, as well as being able to turn off all video circuitry.
If you're interested in the video side of things, it has the DCDI Faroudja chip, another plus.
I'm using Grovers IC's between the Philips and EAR 864 preamp, another plus of course!

 

I second the Philips 963. For the money you can"t beat it.

 

I also can recommend the Pioneer DV-45a. I bought one about a month ago just to be able to hear the multi-mixes on some SACD's. Although not of the level of the SCD-777ES the unit is quite good. On DVD-A it equals my old Technics A10.
One thing that will transform the sound of the player is to get rid of the cheap power cord. I had mine modified to use an after market power cord. I replaced the cord with an MIT ZCORD II which I happened to have on hand. However if you need to buy a cord I highly recommend the JPS Labs Digital cords. I have them on both my DAC and 777. I moves the units up a whole new level. I may sound silly to spend a lot on power cords but once you hear the differences they make you will be convinced.