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How good is the Philips 963SA as CD transport?

I hear this unit has a dual laser pickup unlike most other multiformat players, but I'm not sure if the bits that come out of the digital out is good as the high end Sony player/transports. Anybody ever compare it to other higher quality transports out there?
dracule1
kennyt's avatar
kennyt
1,226 posts
 
I personally have one but find it somewhat compressed sounding for my liking..... that said, I'll be using it this weekend as I could care less if it gets trashed in the approaching hurricane! My DV-50....Id be upset about!
sean
6,231 posts
 
Kenny: I could see how you could arrive at that conclusion. These units lack certain qualities i.e. they aren't very "open" or "airy". As such, the sound & presentation is not as "expansive" for these reasons, hence a logical descriptive term would appear to be "compressed". Sean
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paulcfr
4 posts
 
Ditto on the above. I have one of these and I have a Naim CDP. No comparison. PHillips is lacking in all areas, dull, boring, no detail, no dimension, no soundstage......Naim will spoil some of the best cdp's.
ramstl
342 posts
 
I'm not sure if the latter few responses are inregards to this as a CDP or as a transport, which I think the original question was regarding its capabilities as a transport.
audioengr
3,282 posts
 
Sean - you were right. After doing a lot of power and digital mods I installed a Jensen cap and ran it for 2 days solid. The 963 really opened-up. Great as a transport now. Not compressed at all. To get that last bit of focus, it needs a more stable clock though. Trying that tomorrow.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio
Manufacturer
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