Here's a post of mine copied from AA:
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I auditioned the 962 for a week. It's a fairly balanced player across the frequency spectrum. Smooth sounding, and on the warm side of neutral.
I found the bass a little bit overblown, loose, and thuddy -- not much detail or definition there. But in this price range that's not surprising.
A previous post said the player was much better than the Sony 9000ES. It's not. It's got a warmer, thicker sound (as opposed to the Sony's thinner, brighter) but the Sony is more refined. The Philips, however, has very good detail; only slightly behind the Sony.
Video is excellent. SACD is good (but has the same issues in the bass).
For what you get for your $500 it's not bad.
I'm waiting to hear the Marantz 8300.
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I auditioned the 962 for a week. It's a fairly balanced player across the frequency spectrum. Smooth sounding, and on the warm side of neutral.
I found the bass a little bit overblown, loose, and thuddy -- not much detail or definition there. But in this price range that's not surprising.
A previous post said the player was much better than the Sony 9000ES. It's not. It's got a warmer, thicker sound (as opposed to the Sony's thinner, brighter) but the Sony is more refined. The Philips, however, has very good detail; only slightly behind the Sony.
Video is excellent. SACD is good (but has the same issues in the bass).
For what you get for your $500 it's not bad.
I'm waiting to hear the Marantz 8300.