Relief? The New Digital Players

Dekay, visit www.audioasylum.com and do a search for SACD in the digital drive forum. Reading the comments there is what led me to take the plunge and buy a player. The most convincing comment came from Steve Hoffman of DCC mastering fame.

For the latest in digital gear you must hear the DAC's and transport that Ric Schultz of EVS has been bringing to market, great digital sound for not much money. So much product for so little money. Get your name on the waiting list for a DAC II. Best DAC for the money and THEN some!! You owe it to yourself to get your name on the waiting list before the list gets longer. Plus when the next less expensive Sony SACD players come out he will be modifying them so they will sound better than the SCD-777. Go to his website and read for yourself before you drop another dime in digital. www.tweakaudio.com Or for additional comments I can be emailed at msalamone@cortel.com. I own EVS's entire digital rig and loving the sound it produces.

Of course with new technology the time to buy is never right but you have to take the plunge sometime. The audio industry is at a crossroads with the new formats-those in the know (inc. Mark Levinson)seem to confirm SACD is the best format.My worry is with DVD players becoming more common that DVD-A may have a long term advantage that will make it the prevalent format. Hopefully there be enough support for SACD to keep it viable but new audio formats have died before. Certainly the amount of titles in either format is limited at the moment. I think the main players will hedge their bets in the audiophile ensuring the new format players are also excellent normal CD players. As I stated earlier the new Marantz SACD player is getting reviews that confirm this approach. I also think built-in upsampling will have a major impact with audiophiles especially once the prices start to come down. Time will tell................. Ben

Jrg: Thanks for the info. and the site. $1500.00 is a real world price for a player. I will probably wait until there are a few more choices available. We are expecting a nice chunk of change and the deal is that I get to spend as much on gear as my wife does on a an English leather club chair. Pretty sweet deal, cause I like the chairs too. I have just been saying no to the purchase out of habit.

Too much premium for so little options in titles.... If they are throwing in better CD reproduction to lure the buyers to SACD for me still not good enough. I'd rather go with an upsampling DAC like Bel Canto or a good single box CD player instead for the moment.