Would an SACD Player improve my sound?

In order to avoid a "1000 or 2000$ mistake" take a couple of sacd players home and listen to them in your system.
Good luck.

I wish to go the route of an SACD player in my system, I already purchased a Marantz SACD 8260 a few years back (on the basis of an "A" rating in Stereophile)and the sound was soupy and in short a major disappointment.
In short, I do not want to make another $1000.00-$2000.00
mistake, not in this economy. So for the $1000.00 to $02020.00 range what SACD PLayer would give me the best bang for the buck in my system previoulsy discussed.
Thank you.

Depends on the SACD player. My experience with the Sony SCD-XA5400ES (on for 4 weeks straight) is inferior to Sim Andromeda on any medium (SACD or CD). Perhaps a higher end SACD player would have been better like Esoteric, or Marantz. Thanks

Bill

If you listen to classical and jazz (more classical) it will be well worth getting an SACD player. I favor the Marantz players. I would buy new which gets you into the reference line and an sa-15s2. ....

I completly agree, on classical music the difference beetween normal CD and SACD is huge ... it brings you so much more resolution ... I bet when you will discover it, your collection of SACD will quickly grow up


Yes, Marantz players are very musical

Very nice system. I have the Cary 306 SACD and yes SACD's sound better - much better. Try to find a 306 used for $2500 or so. Great SACD player!!

Bigger improvement then any cable or cap to be frank. The 306 is an awesome player and in the Cary line you already like.

Alot of the xrcd and K2HD cds are outstanding and can be played on regular cd player --would try 1 or 2 first as I find most of these better than sacd but agree some sacd's are outstanding.

If you listen to classical and jazz (more classical) it will be well worth getting an SACD player. I favor the Marantz players. I would buy new which gets you into the reference line and an sa-15s2. BTW the redbook playback is very good.

I would suggest checking out the TRL modded Sony 595 for $350 that just popped up on Audiogon. I know nothing about the seller or the specific deck but I can vouch for the 595. I owned this sacd player for a few years and loved it. I only sold it to trade up the TRL line. There is a review on 6 moons among other other places.

SACD's range from slightly better to spectacular depending on the particular SACD/CD.

You may want to consider upgrading your Thor linestage ( T1000 ? ) with the new Mundorf Caps..I did my T1000 and its a huge improvement over the last current model...My guess is you will get more performence this way than going to a SACD and buying $40 cds...Highendaudio.com ask for Ted ( owner of Thor Audio ) ........

since you have an excellent cdp, and your sacd use is incidental, i might try buying a very inexpensive universal player (e.g. a used denon, integra or pioneer elite) for your sacd. esp. when connected to the thor, any of these should do you nicely for $100 or so, with the added bonus of having dvd capability.

SACDs are better IMO... but I don't know if I'd spend $2k on a player for 20 discs.

I'd try to borrow one from a local audio buddy and see if its worth it... it might be.

Nice set up, I have the THOR Cantantus phono preamp.
That said, I was at my friendly neighborhood hi-fi shop, since moved and then closed, sigh, and they had a Diana Krall CD playing on a so-so mid fi entry level set up. The CD player was SACD capable. Knowing me, they popped the SACD version of the same album on in SACD and asked me what I thought. That did it, bought a Marantz SACD machine and haven't looked back. Would do the same today but likely something different.
Do yourself a favor, take a few of the SACD's you have, go to your local store and see what they sound like in a far less resolving system for both CD and SACD and then decide.
If you can borrow one for a few days, even better. Your ears alone will tell you if its worth it.