Philips SACD1000 vs Sony DVP-9000ES

I talked to Oade Bro. and they said Philips was better than S9000 both video and audio-wise. I say Philips is about on par or slightly better with S7000 I had. Philips' sound is pretty good with low to mid details, but there's something uneasy about the highs that I don't like. The soundstage is compressed somewhat vertically. SACD sounds very good, but I have only two of them that came with the player. I'm not sure whether I should start buying SACDs or make my system specialized for Redbook playback. In all, I think Philips is pretty good, but not for my system. Based on my conversation with Oade Bro. I won't be happy with stock S9000. So it's either modded S9000 or XA777 for me. :(

If you are ambitious send the 9000es out to be moded and then it will beat most anything, with in reason of course, I am sure the accuphase unit will do a better job but even after mods still costs twice as much. Plus if you are like me it is cool to say your CD player has been moded. Not too sure about the philips, this should prove to get interesting.

Sony SCD777 will kill both of them. I own a Sony DVP-9000ES and I love it, but for movies only. The SACD feature sounds great, CD sounds hideous, so for serious listening I still pull out the ol' Meridian 508.24. Get yourself a decent progressive scan DVD player for the occasional movie and snag yourself a Sony SCD-1 or SCD777 for some serious listening.