Old Philips CD as transport or new playe

Elizabeth, you are absolutely right on about the late 80s, early 90s Sony transports, they were like bankvaults in construction. Sonically,not bad either.There are real world everyday usage issues like access time, reliability and chassis rigidity that are real factors. Please consider these before purchasing. Sony is a company that goes all out to prove a point, untill the marketing dept. steps in and starts cost cutting. Thats why the SACD-1 is most likely to be their best one in that format. As time goes by, its all downhill

Seldener: The DAC would just be the first step in your case and would give immediate gratification. With a DAC however you will have the added expense of a good digital IC as well as a good power cord and isolation components (if you involve yourself with these things). Elizabeth is correct in that DAC's seem to have fallen out of vogue, which means that used prices are even better at this time. Adding a low to mid priced player would certainly improve your source from what it is now, but considering the rest of your system it would just be a compromise. Good used DAC's are available for under $1000. The trick is to figure out which one is to your liking (I personally do not care for many of the $1000-$2000 ones and couldn't care less for most of the one box players in this price range as well - retail price). Yes, your transport could go at any time, but on the other hand it could just as well continue functioning for many more years. When it does go just replace it, if you have not already done so beforehand. Good one box players are available for as little as $1500 on the used market which is another option. I do not intend on replacing existing software with the SACD versions, but would like to take advantage of the format if the software does become readily available, which I am already set up to do (by just replacing the transport). In the meantime I do not feel that I have compomised on sound quality within my budget constraints.

I've decided recently to jump into the same boat you're in (to mix up analogies). I've sold my Meridian 500/518/566.24 to use my ancient Philips CD-80 as a transport to a Perpetual Tech P-1A and P-3A. In general, the sound from the new system just whomps the Meridian (and the Meridian was definitely no slouch.) It's a temporary solution until it becomes clear whether SACD or DVD-A will succeed or fail. Although waiting for the next step is difficult, I've been very pleased with the build quality of the 33 lb. Philips. If our house is ever bombed, it's one of the few things that I'm sure will survive.

Bottom line: The quality of current, cheap DAC's is such that you can get a significant improvement over prior generation top-of-the-line equipment with very little investment. It's good to wait 'til the format issues get straightened out.

Dekay, did you compare the 506.24 as a standalone to your Cal/Bel Canto? How did that comparison go?

-Another fence sitter with a 6 yo. CDP(micromega2)

PF

I was once told by a technician that a Phillips CDM9 transport, which was one of their better mechanisms had an estimated useful life of about 3500-4000 hours. Whether that is true or not, I don't know. If your player has a lot of hours on it, I would consider replacing it. I have a 10 year old Marantz cd94 that I have used for many years as a transport with Theta and Micromega dacs. However, I could not stand to listen to it without a jitter reduction device.
The Aiwa mentioned above, in its stock form, is comparable as a transport to the Marantz (not bad considering its price). A used Theta Data Basic (mentioned above) will imho outperform the Marantz and many other transports.