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Request opinions on SACD/CD Players.

I am currently concidering buying an Ayre C-5xe, or an Marantz SA7-S1, or an Sony SCD-1, or perhaps just a Cambridge 840C. I hope I got it right that the Ayre, Marantz, and the Sony can play both SACD and CD. Would like to hear opinions on how these players perform with both SACD and CD compared to each other. Would like to know how CD playback compares to the Cambridge 840c. Would like to know how each one of these players upsamples or oversamples CD to what sampling rate and what type of DAC is utilized for CD playback. Would like to know, based on this knowledge and sound quality for CD and SACD, CD for Cambridge, which provides the best value for the money. Please include details on the technical as well as sound quality of the equation.
pettyofficer
theo's avatar
theo
2,684 posts
 
As an owner of a C5xe I can cast my vote. I have had Marantz players but not the expensive ones. they sound good and I also own a Denon 5910ci and it uses the same burr brown chipset as the Ayre. But something else is going
on as the Ayre sounds better on every front.
Bias opinion of course.
stanwal's avatar
stanwal
3,147 posts
 
Musical Fidelity makes one of the best , which can be bought used on AG. Check the reviews.
vinyleater
1 posts
 
Not quite so high end, I have a Sony SCD-CE775 modded by Matt Anker of Sacdmods and also an unmodded Sony C222ES. They are both 5-disc changers and do their jobs very admirably. The mods to the 775 make it a lot like the 222, which was part of the ES (higher-end) line. In fact, the modded 775 probably has more punch and better resolution of musical details. I owned the very inexpensive CE595 for a while, which was a step down from these but not bad at all considering its price tag.
audiobugged
528 posts
 
I'd stay away from a Sony SCD-1 or the SCD-777ES as Sony's Service Center hasn't had any replacement parts for these for over 1 1/2 - 2 years. The units start having sled motor issues, and TOC locking issues. Great machines in their day as I've owned 2 Sony SCD-1's and 2 SCD-777ES's over the years while playing with SACD.
tweak1
3,658 posts
 
Having owned several SCAD/CD players, my take is:

While some SACDs are excellent recordings, most are not.
Whether you will get your money's worth, depends on how many recordings that you like are worthy.

Combo players do a poor job of CD playback, worse if they use DSD for CD playback! Get an inexpensive SACD payer, say an Oppo and a high quality CD player that will play the various formats you are interested- some will play DVD-A some won't.
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