SACD Audio Equipment

I believe the 9000 ES is the best value. I own the SCD-1 and continue to be extremely pleased (2 years). I would look into the Pioneer DVAX-10. I know nothing about it, but if Darrell is correct that may be the state-of-the art today in affordable units. The Marantz is fine, but I think over priced for what you get.
My opinion is the same today as it was when I first baught my unit. Get in now, enjoy the upgrade in music and wait for the next generation. To not get in is wrong in my opinion, too much gained and little risked. In the next few years some great players with more to offer will come out, and I'll be there to buy, but today I'm loving the music and building a library. Yes the selection is limited, so what! The redbook is better than I had with similiar priced standard players and I have SACD, I can hardly go wrong. That is why I believe the 9000ES is the best value. Offers all thats avalible at a great price and gets you in and enjoying the benifits of the new tech.

The Pioneer DVAX-10 is $6000. You should be able to get it for $3800 or so. If you want ONE unit that will play everything except multi-channel SACD (It does play 2 channel SACD), then the Pioneer is the first chioce. I own both the Sony 9000ES & DVAX-10 and there is no comparison, the redbook cd on the DVAX-10 is much better than the Sony.
It should be better, the transport is much better isolated, the entire chassis is wrapped in copper, the cd drawer mechanism has a double air lock seal, and there are other features that further enhance the performance...and one more item I forgot to mention...It upsamples standard 16/44.1 to 24/96 and may (I'm trying to get an answer from Pioneer on this) upsample to 24/192. The SACD section still sounds better than upsampled redbook cd, but not by a large amount.

Based on your other components I think a good fit would be the Marantz SA-1 player. Though it's a bit expensive I think it clearly beats out the SCD-1 and 777ES on both redbook and SACD playback. It's a pretty impressive unit.

What is the retail on the new Pioneer DVAX-10?? Anyone know?

The Sony 9000ES is a great value. See my post to Ampman66.

You could get a proggressive scan dvd and sacd player in one unit that is pretty damn good... The sony dvp-s9000es and it only retails at $1500. In which i'm sure you could find at a lessor cost. And an extra---it looks awesome too.

Try the new Pioneer DVAX-10 it kills!!! It also plays SACD, DVD-Audio 2 & 6 channel, CDRW, CDR, DVD Progressive output,
has a 24/192 dual coax DIGITAL OUTPUTS (Note: a 3rd cable must be connected to enable the 24/192 digital output). The unit weighs over 50# and the build quality is even better than the Sony SCD-1!! It also has BALANCED output jacks! Check it out if you can find one.

While I believe the 333ES 5 disc changer is a great value for the money $575 (and can be modded for about another $350) its my opinion that your system deserves better. I would either look for a deal on a 777ES or SCD-1 or maybe even better yet wait it out until the new multi-channel 777 unit appears in late August or September...