Philips SACD 1000 or 962.


I’m thinking to buy one of these players. Does anyone own or has experience with them? It will be used for 80% music- 20 HT. Or should I buy dedicated CD player and get over with cheap DVD player?
Any input will be appreciated.
Vlad.
vlad
My other player is an AH! Njoe Tjoeb 4000, and the SACD 1000 has a similarly prominent midrange but is much more refined with less grain. The Ah! is more forward in the upper mids.
I picked us a 962 recently and think its a terrific value for SACD. I compared it to the Sony DVP9000ES and I prefer the sound of the the Philips for SACD but the DVD User functions are better on the Sony, the 962 offers the Faroudja DCDI chip which offers a great picture. The 962 also offers multichn out SACD. For redbook I would say it offers the performance of a $500 player. I replaced my previous setup (Levinson pre and DAC and a Proceed PMDT DVD)with the 962 and a AA Capitole MKII. The PMDT was a MUCH MUCH better DVD Player also at 10x a higher price.

The 962 also offers an audiophile option, when listening to 2 chn or SACD, the 962 offers a button to disable all video functions and power. This allows an audio only signal that is non curropted by video processing and power..personally, I have a problem hearing the difference.

overall, a very good SACD performer and DVD player with certain quirks (limited user functions and slow Layer change on the DVD)..

But for the $500 street price...its a hell of a deal.

Matt

http://members.rogers.com/mzn50/
Matt could you compare red book performance sony 9000 and philips 962? DVD performance is a plus but not really critical in my setup .
Thanks Vlad
Both players are fine redbook performers, I did fine the Sony a tad thin in mid range, however since I had the Sony in my system, I have changed to much better interconnects..so, one would have to re-evaluate that "thinness" The build is much better on the Sony and the overall feel is better on the sony. Again, its almost twice the price (retail).

If I had the option again, I think I would still go for the 962 even though DVD performance is somewhat lacking as well as user functions... reason again is the SACD and Multichan SACD

I am not even sure the 9000ES is still being made ??

Matt
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.