Recom. for a new CD/DVD?

Just purchased the Philips DVD963SA with 192/24 CD oversampling and SACD. $ 430 home delivered. Sounds better than the Meridian 500/566 24bit DAC purchased @ $ 3000 that is replacing. After serious comparison testing, disconnected and switched off the Meridian. As far as I am concerned Sony and Philips supply equipment at reasonable price that sounds a lot better than the over priced "high-end" "high-price" brands. The Philips now drives Mark Levinson and Martin Logan.

dturbati,

"The Philips now drives Mark Levinson and Martin Logan."

Let's hear more...

Well not much to say. CD comparison to the Meridian combo is extended low frequencies, the high end has lost a bit of harshness and is more "sweet". With sweet do not mean coloration or a sound that is more pleasent to my hears. It is closer to live performance. I could not notice much difference in the mid-band. Presentation, field depth, localization of instruments and voices are more present, i.e brought a bit forward adding more sense of live performance. Resolution is enhanced, with instrument details available where could not hear before. I have no comparison with other SACDs so cannot say much, I compared Bocelli CD with SACD, no drammatic differences but a sense of musicality not present in the CD and of course more extended low and high and minute details not audible in the CD. However you need to have a top notch system to dig out the advantages of SACD reproduction. It must be said that the mastering is probably not specifically done for SACD so there is probably some tuning at recording level that will allow a better differential between the two standards. I have only had the Philips for two days now and the sound is still changing a bit.
Should you have specific questions, ask will try to answer the best I can

Daniel

Daniel, thank you for posting your thoughts on the Philips player. Does the player have PCM coax output for use with an external dac? The philips website isn't clear on this. Thanks.

I have the Sony 9000ES and love it. I understand that the new Sony 999ES is slightly superior with CD, DVD, and SACD, and costs less as well.