Sony SCD-C333ES a good buy?

One of my partners (a non-audiophile who does appreciate good sound) bought this unit at my suggestion a little over a month ago and is raving about it. It replaced an older Phillips model. At $600, with 5-disc changer capabilities (not that many good-sounding multi-disc players at that price) and SACD, it sounds like an excellent buy.

Grossdp, on your last question, I believe the SA-14 will be going for half the price of the SA-1, so that's still not affordable; don't know about the SA-12. On your first point, Sony indeed did build its two flagships better than their usual stuff (as did Marantz) to raise interest in the medium and show what it could do, now they're after the mass market, which for the most part could care less about the inner build quality. Given the buzz about the 9000ES on this site, though, it seems that they're still good sounding machines. I for one hope the medium becomes a success, and if Sony bringing out cheaper SACD players does it, great, because if the medium catches on the high end manufacturers will start putting some of their R&D money into SACD playback hardware. And we will all be better off for it, in my view.