Rgd, substantial built quality does not always equate to better sound. I will readily admit that I am not familiar with the sound of the SACD 1000 or it's replacement. However, 9 times out of 10 a company will not not replace a piece with an inferior piece. I know there have been exceptions to this rule, but technology does progress, and there are usually good reasons for a piece to be replaced. Digital technology ESPECIALLY progresses. I do think that some of the newer generation of digital is sounding better than the cutting edge digital of two years ago. Take the Ayre CDP for example... Build quality on the Ayre is OK (not great but and deffinitely not like the AMAZING build quality of say the EMC-1 mk2 or Cary 306/200); NEVERTHELESS, I think the Ayre really does sound a lot better than those CDPs by a pretty good margin (in a few systems I have heard, including mine).
Phillips is replacing the SACD 1000 with a player that does 24/192 upsampling of Redbook CDs which should be better than the sound of the SACD 1000 on Redbook CDs. At $500 for the replacement, I am beginning to regret purchasing a new Sony $200 DVD player. Oh well... I guess I will wait a bit longer for SACD.
KF
