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
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.
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
I thoroghly enjoy my 963SA. I purchased it at Goodguys for $99.00!!!! It was a demo without cables and instructions. I have my own cables at home and pulled the instructions off of the Philips website.
IMO, its not all that good as a transport.
A friend and I, who both owned 963sa's, put one of them up against an old transport that he has (a parasound he paid less used for it than a new 963 costs). It wont play most CD-Rs we put in it...so its got to be more than a few years old.

We were running into a Benchmark DAC-1...which touts such jitter correction claims that they say the transport doesnt' matter as much.
well, we could easily hear a difference in the presentation. the Philips was grainy, a tad bright and nowhere near as smooth and musical as the old redbook tranpsort we had to test with.

I've got a Vinnie MOD Toshiba 3960 DVD transport now. dampening and power supply mods. its pretty smooth, but I have not put it up against the one remaining 963sa that he still has. I would venture to guess that it will sound better than the philips.

i'm sorry to be the only guy here who says "it ain't all that...."
I"m looking for a new DVD tranpsort too. Imleaning towards an older Sony DVP model as i'm convinced these little lightweight players are crap transports due to their flimsy construction.