Downgrading Help

Ideally, I'll be able to sell the BAT as well. I did the typical American "spend what I don't have" in a mad pursuit for great sound. Maybe I can hang on to the BAT for a little while. No one seemed interested in buying that player anyway.

Glen, the SACD on the Philips sounded awesome right out of the box. Just as good as the Wadia playing redbook. I was definitely impressed. It wasn't "hyper" detailed and sterile; more like DEEP and wide soundstage, and really great dynamics. Full of life. Filled the room.

Thanks for the suggestions..

well, i guess that answers that question. thanks for the help.

CJR.. can you tell me what improvements the mods made?

I'm at home, listening to the Wadia, and quickly switched back to the Philips (Which has been playing for the last 24 hours on repeat)... ugh, still no comparison. The Philips sounds, relatively, so lifeless.

this is all kind of funny to me, because I started my search for a digital player with the BAT VKD5-SE, which I still own, and when I first got that player, I thought, "What is the BIG DEAL??"...

Now, the BAT also sounds GREAT, as does the Wadia, and the Philips is almost intolerable.

One thing I have learned is that digital is really sensitive to warming up, and breaking in. We'll see, this may be a case of judging the player too early.

Zaikes: How many SACDs do I own? TWO!!

I really thought I could just get the Philips, and be fine with redbook on it, since I was fine with my old cd changer, and I'd get to try out SACDs.

So wrong. learning learning, and i guess i'm definitely doing it the hard way, but at least i'm convinced and not doubting myself, because I can HEAR for MYSELF what's going on.

What to do in the foreseeable future... I don't know. Is it just the Wadia signature that I like? I mean, the BAT is better than the Wadia, but I don't like that player's sound like I like the Wadia sound. Is there a signature to a manufacturer? I'm guessing yes... and if that's the case, maybe I can get an older, or less expensive Wadia?

I'll see how the Philips is tonight. I've talked to Dan Wright, and described the deficiencies I hear in the Philips, and he thinks it's because of the two stages of gain in the analog output (?)... I don't know. I only spend $400 on the Philips, I think I'd have a hard time dumping any money into it without knowing what the improvement would sound like.

oops... what i meant to say, is that the BAT is better than the Philips, but the Wadia is better than the BAT. For my ears, there is something REALLY special about the Wadia.

Got more of that sinking feeling tonight from more auditioning. I don't know what it is. I don't know how to describe what I'm hearing. Something happens inside when I listen to the Wadia... like an emotional connection, or involvement. ugh... I had no idea it would be this apparent to me.

Ah, what I wouldn't do for a little ignorace right now.

Hey Glen,

If I could transform my CD collection into SACD, I think I'd be very happy. The SACD playback was great; very involving, and musical. But have you seen the current SACD titles list? I counted 6 titles I would want...

I'm using BearLabs silver lightning cabling, and am just using the stereo outputs. I don't have a HT setup, just a two-channel system.