SACD/DVD-A Anyone tried Yamaha or Integra?

FWIW, The Integra 8.3 is based on a Pioneer chasis. To say that Integra is mid-fi garbage is to agree that the Pioneer is the same.

Denon DVD players, as well as Panasonic DVD players ARE highly
regarded, scoring high on both Secrets and TAS DVD shoot-outs.

But, there's no reason to pay $900 for a highly rated DVD player when both Denon and Panasonic make highly regarded
DVD players for far less.

Next, when you become dissatisfied with the sound of your
Universal Player, which you will, you will end up buying a
better CD player and you'll be stuck with a $900 DVD player
which you will no longer use for music playback and it will
hit you that you could have saved a lot of money and gotten
the same quality DVD player by purchasing a Denon DVD 1600 or Panasonic XP-50. Money you could use now for your CD
player, or CD/SACD player -- since you're looking for a
playback system that will be "Universal."

A Sony SCD XA777ES will kick the holy bejeezus out of a
Yamaha or Denon Universal Player. It is in an entirely
different league -- many jumps up the ladder.

Pay $300 for a top of the line DVD player [Used] that also
includes DVD-A playback and spend the wad on your music
playback. You will be so much happier and you won't get
stuck in a dead end with regard to upgrading.

Think "outside the one box."

With two boxes, you'll get much better music playback
and still get top notch DVD playback.

If you want to stick with the same budget, go with the
Philips 963 and the Denon DVD 1600, or the Philips 963
and the Panasonic XP-50.

But, if you can afford to spend a little more, I highly
recommend the Sony SCD XA777ES, which was rated A+ by
Stereophile and received a golden ear award from TAS --
if those things mean anything to you. Certainly doesn't
hurt.

Well I'm not saying Denon is THE BEST player I'm just saying with a street price of $800.00 I would love to see anyone with a budget top the price to performance ratio of the 2900. And I'm talking about planet earth videohydra, the Silicon Imaging Denon uses has won numerous rewards it's the same imaging that the also so highly regarded DVDO line doubling unit uses.

I cannot afford an expensive universal right now, and I don't want two separate boxes for dvd-a and sacd, both of which formats I want. And I don't need cd since I have an excellent high end system. Hence I recently bought the Denon dv2900 after its good online reviews.

In my house, the 2900 gets about 8x its cost in associated audiophile paraphernalia, including interconnects at 3.5x its price, power cord, line filter and vibration control. And I have been enjoying its SACD and DVD-A a good deal, thank you - nice staging, lively and dynamic, and musically communicative. It lacks the detail, texture, and very fine stage perspective of my main front end, but it is remarkably good at this price point and lets me listen to the excellent high rez discs I own. In comparison, I used to own a Pioneer 47a, and that was a whole different issue - flatly unlistenable on a high end system.

Just turn off your audiophile flaw-detection filter for a while, relax and listen to the music, and you may find a tricked-out Denon 2900 to be an enjoyable interim product while saving capital for that EMM Labs or Meridian system.

Reviewed at enjoythemusic.com, under Viewpoint, by Bill Gaw. Choice of power cord is important with this player.

So, one has to spend $7000 on cables and platforms for the 2900 to sound good (but not great)? Uh....right. Why not buy a TRIVISTA, Esoteric or even the EMM labs to begin with if you're going to sink that much money into hi-rez. Sorry, Flex, but you're logic escapes me on this one....