I guess it depends on "compared to what"--in this hobby it usually does. On the Sony 7700; It's no Theta Data 3;and I'll guess It's no Faroudja either. I have the Pioneer Elite 09,-- I've had a Sony 7700 also.Bass,low level drive,are sadly missing on both the Sony and Pioneer.(Going into Theta 5a 24/96) If you don't have both on hand,you might not notice .I have lots of LDs; the data 3 is also a class a transport. My guess on this is cd & ld are both 44.1 It also depends on how much the rest of your system resolves. On most DVD players, the major piece of the budget goes for dvd reproduction. I've read here, (by many)how SACD players are so-so, cd players. (This would apply to the older generation sacd players at least.)