Right now, do not buy a Sony at list price. The $5,000 SCD-1 is sold in the low to mid $3,000. The $3,500 SCD-777 is being sold for around $1700. The $1,500 list S9000ES DVD/CD/SACD player is still hard to find discounted, but some have mailordered it for around $1,100. The $1200 list SCD-333 can be bought for around $800. A new player released in Europe, the SCD-555 is getting rave reviews and might be the best yet. Sony has not announced a release date in the U.S. It sells for around $1300. There are subtle differences between all these players. All of these at one time of the other have been judged by some as the best. One thing is certain, you get a quality CD/SACD player with all of these choices. Sony is a mass market manufacturer, not highend, and is pushing to significantly increase the number of SACD players.
Personally, I love my S9000ES as a CD and DVD player. SACD is a free bonus. Some people have sold their SCD-1 and SCD-777 players and bought the 9000ES because they thought it had better SACD sound.
Pioneer has announced a SACD/DVD-A player. It's around $4K if I remember correctly, but SACD supporters do not think it will be good. It takes the SACD signal and converts it to a DVD-Audio type signal. This will limit the SACD to DVD-Audio quality--a step down. Rather than 2,820K/second sampling, it will be converted to 96K or 192K/sec sampling.
Personally, I love my S9000ES as a CD and DVD player. SACD is a free bonus. Some people have sold their SCD-1 and SCD-777 players and bought the 9000ES because they thought it had better SACD sound.
Pioneer has announced a SACD/DVD-A player. It's around $4K if I remember correctly, but SACD supporters do not think it will be good. It takes the SACD signal and converts it to a DVD-Audio type signal. This will limit the SACD to DVD-Audio quality--a step down. Rather than 2,820K/second sampling, it will be converted to 96K or 192K/sec sampling.