I bought a 333 when the price dropped and I am extremely pleased with it as a CD player, and the SACD brings the player into the $5000 sound category. At the current price, the SACD capability is free. I disagree with the previous postings. I think SACD is in its infancy. There are more titles everyday (although the retailers haven't figured out what to do about them). Check out the hirez forum on AudioAsylum.com for lists and updates on availability. The big shoe for sacd and dvd-a is just beginning to drop. The companies believe for a mass market, they need to offer something besides better sound, and that something is discrete multichannel. If you want to keep your options open, the replacement for the 9000 is about to hit the market , at $1000, with multichannel. The prices will be dropping on the software, to about the current level for new releases on CD. CD will become the low cost medium of the future, like cassettes. And LP's- I'm sorry, but I am more convinced than ever that it will continue to shrink, and become more and more a "collector's" market. The sound quality of SACD, to my ears, is better(read: more accurate to the recording, not necessarily "better" sounding) than Lp ever was. These changes are in part a response to MP3s. If the companies are going to be able to charge for a product, higher quality and new features are the only way to go for them. BTW, I have been a very active audiophile for 35 years, and have had hundreds of front ends of all types. Just my opinion, of course. Your mileage may vary.
