I used to own a Sony 7700 DVD player, their previous flagship. Not bad but not quite as refined as a good dedicated cd player. Then I went shopping for a replacement. I tried so better Classé players, as well as the incredible Jupiter (one-box now) player from Rega. I almost bought it as it is supposed to be one of the best under 3,000.00. Before I did a friend let me have his Sony 9000 while he was away on holidays. Holy smokes. What's this? Initial reaction: The Jupiter had it over the Sony on the warmth and imaging, but not by far. Where the Sony creamed the Jupiter was in extracting the smallest details and resolution from ordinary cd's. As far as SACD, I never got excited over a 10 year old compressed recording of Cindy Lauper or Billy Joel on the Sony sampler. They are missing the point with these radio-bound recordings which do not really sound any better than the red book version. On the Sony SACD sampler there is a cut from Miles Davis. I happen to also own the regular cd. Now there...Just totally organic and unbeleivable, light years away in clarity and resolution. I was told the unit need a long break-in. How true. I ended up buying a 9000 for myself and I can confirm it is the equal to the Jupiter in many respects now that it is fully broken-in. Still beats it with resolution in spades, and a sweet top end. How can they offer such technology for such a low price by audiophile standards? Beats me. Throw in top DVD performance for the occasional DVD rental (in my case) and it's a no brainer. I have no intention of buying SACD's. The sound is so good with regular cd's, the 9000's asking price is fully worth every penny and more. I will leave it to others to spend twice the price for lesser sound quality and a thick faceplate...Bu the way, very heavy and built like a tank too.
