State-of-the-art DVD Video and SACD player?

Buy one of Sony's cheaper DVD/SACD players and have Ric Schultz of EVS(www.tweakaudio.com) turn it into a giant killer. See the website for Ric's thoughts on the various mods. Best of luck.

Tim

The Sony 9000ES is the no-brainer. Absolutely stunning transport, superb stand-alone cd-player, with SACD and state-of-the-art DVD picture as a bonus. All this for around a thousand bucks. Will give most 3K (and up) cd players a run for the money...what else do we need here???

SONY dvp 9000es-Bought one,love it dvd/sacd in one unit just like you want. And in my opinion very underpriced for that kind of quality in one machine. And there are a few above that like it too...Good Luck and have fun.

The Pioneer AX-10 does not process SACD properly, it converts it to PCM. The new Pioneer DV-47A will decode both 2 and 5 ch. SACD and DVD-A correctly and has 12 bit video DAC's as well, BUT... it still has the chroma bug which might be a factor with the Sharp pj. Otherwise this player should just about be the ticket to multi format nirvana at this time. My Sony 9000ES is superb, but lacks 5 ch. SACD, which may not be important to you until you hear it done properly, and then you may not want to be without it.

...if you want state of the art. Early press blurbs say it has the redbook CD playback that makes the Capitole so popular as well as SACD and progressive scan DVD.

I'd probably go cheap at first and let them go through a production cycle to work the bugs before going with a high end one-box solution.

T.

Hey--Doc;
I'd say go cheap or wait.

(Read the same article in TAS) --Sure the Sony has the chroma bug; The Pioneer is way hi-priced, limited software; I wouldn't commit to steeply.

The Sony DVP S9000es is really an amazing deal for $829 and J&R. If you can swing it I would highly recommend the mods available at www.modwright.com which will turn this great value into a truly top notch player.

I personally recommend you wait. With that said, consider the PioneerAX10, it does CD, DVD, SACD, and DVD-Audio in one unit. The ONLY Pioneer piece on the market worth owning.

High end manufacturers have been slow to implement new digital formats because of high licensing and development costs. The big mass market guys have scaled up first. High end producers have started to roll out, like Meridian's 800 Series, at fairly high price points. I would wait a few months for a wider selection. The current (Feb/Mar 02) issue of TAS has a good survey article starting on page 45 that describes what's in the pipeline.

Sony DVP-9000ES, plays DVD & SACD. Don't let the price fool you (about $850-900 street price) -- type the model number in google.com and read the reviews. In the league with $3k players.