@Pandrew79, curious...are both units' output to your amp the same way? I would think the levels coming out of the HDMI outs to be the same, following the specs for that type of interface. However, that cannot be said for the digital outs for the two units. The Sony's digital output is coax; the manual says "DIGITAL OUT (COAXIAL): Phono jack /0.5 Vp-p/75 ohms". A look at the LG UP875 manual shows the digital out is optical; from the Specifications page: "(OPTICAL AUDIO OUT) 3 V (p-p), Optical jack x 1". It'd be a shame to lose all that flexibility built into the X800M2; I'd say optimize and/or account for the playback levels of the two units and then continue the comparisons.
Thank you for the thoughtful and thorough suggestions, I hadn't considered the impact of the wiring. (I'm admittedly a junior in my experience of setting up audiophile rigging.) It was only this past year did I become seriously interested in building out my cd collection. Both were wired via HDMI cable for the tests. Unfortunately I don't have on hand a coaxial or an optical, but will pick them up tomorrow to check. One of my test cds was the SHM of Steely Dan's Katy Lied, which is probably the best sounding cd in my collection. That cd the best I've heard the Dan on any format, I've ranted and raved on the SH forum about it. When I spun the disc on the Sony player, it lost all of the life-like sound profile and 3D dimension that it had on the LG. The cd just sounded bright and flat, no different than an average cd. I then thought, "some people on the forum must think I'm bastsh*t if they listened to the SHM and had this same subpar experience". It's night and day difference on these players -- I never knew they could deviate this wildly on sound. And I will say the Sony is a little bass shy in comparison the LG. and the Sony is overall brighter in sound -- maybe a bit too bright. This is again all just the HDMI experience.
No prob! Interesting; when you're playing the Sony and LG do you find the output levels very similar/the same on the two units via HDMI? Curious; what amp are you using for your rig? Based on the specs in the manuals, there should be a difference between Sony's coax and LG's optical output levels. (And as a side note, some folks have thoughts on playback via coax versus optical; you can find discussions as such in SHMF.)
The output levels were pretty similar. I don't have an amp, just a Marantz S6009 receiver. The results of my latest tests were even more wacky. Bought the new cables for each respective unit and: 1) the overall quality of the LG jumped by 50%, sound was much fuller, richer, and with more bass via the optical. 2) the overall quality of the Sony jumped by about 30% via the coaxial, similar to the LG results. 3) the SHM sounded better on the Sony via the coaxial, but still not as 3-dimensional as the LG. 4) SACD discs sounded better via the HDMI on the Sony as the sound flowered more and revealed more details. My overall preference still goes to the LG. The Sony provides an overall more pleasing audio experience (warmer, less digital sounding), but it doesn't have the life-like replication of instruments and vocals. I really enjoy 3D discrete sound placement and the Sony seemed to blend the audio more into an overall atmosphere. The LG does well when the CD is well mastered and recorded but when not, the flaws are much more apparent. Fortunately I only have a handful of SACD discs that I really enjoy, so I can live without SACD until I find another contender. Thanks again for the recommendations. Maybe I'll stumble upon a cheap Oppo one of these days.
