The best SACD player for Mahler

[Leo K]

Well, after acquiring my first SACD's and discovering how great they sound on my regular CD players, I'm naturally tempted to finally get an SACD player.  Since I live in an apartment I plan on using headphones pretty much all the time. 

Anyone have any recommendations for a good all around player, and a good receiver?

--Leo

[Jeff Wozniak]

Stand-alone players are supposed to be the best.  You can pay over a thousand dollars for a great SACD player (you did ask what the BEST player is).  I don't know which one's are the best because I can't afford them. Maybe someone else can chime in on the great players.

 I have a Pioneer DV 563A which I don't believe they make anymore.  It plays SACDs, DVD-A, DVD videos and, of course, CDs. Cost about $130 when I got it a few years back.  Used to have a Sony before that. Both players have shown the difference in sound quality with the SACD format. 

 

[Leo K]

Thanks Jeff,

Well, my price range would have to be $260 and under, and I need to get a reciever too (I have no experience with the modern ones with muti-channel and etc).  It will take awhile to buy all this, but I'm doing some research now to get an idea.  Tha Poineer you have is what I'm looking for really.  Now, I'm just not sure about recievers.

--Leo

[michaelw]

For now, I use a Pioneer 656 for my SACD's and it was a very good start with that new medium.
It's not bad, received good tests and is capable of revealing the superior quality of SACD's compared to CD's. The most recent successor seems to be the 696, which possibly will sound better.
However, these are basically DVD players and in the lower price segment you will find the most SACD players in this group. There is a technical compromise between video and audio processing and a DVD will try to produce good pictures at first.

During the last weeks I checked-out for a new "pure" CD/SACD-player and if you gave me 500 EURO I would immediately walk to my store and buy a Marantz 7001. All tests and recommendations lead into that direction.
As an alternative there is the new Pioneer D6-J. Interestingly both players are for STEREO only. There is a rollback to the pure stereo equipment and I am sure, that both players will give you very good Mahler in stereo (in the test they mentioned the very good headphone support of the 7001).
I also consider to get a new amplifier, but this is even more difficult. The guy at the store - I trust him - recommended the Denon 1500 AE combination with amplifier and SACD-player - 1500 EURO... 
If anybody has another recommendation for CD/SACD-players below 400 EURO/USD - very appreciated.

Michael

[Jeff Wozniak]

Leo,

I've had my eye on this player for a while and almost forgot about it.  It's a Yamaha DVC6760 DVD Changer.  5 Disc changer which plays SACDs and plays any DVD in the world (region free).  Here's a link to it if you want to check it out and the customer reviews. For about $100 it's worth considering.


http://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-DVC6760-DVD-Changer-Black/dp/B0006FNH9K/ref=sr_1_24/002-7018644-0052023?ie=UTF8&s=audio-video&qid=1180306733&sr=1-24

[barry guerrero]

That's a great deal. I've been very happy with Yamaha electronics in the past. They generally have good sound to all of their components.

Barry

[Leo K]

That is really tempting!!!  Hopefully it's still there on Amazon when I get paid.

I really appreciate the help here.

--Leo

[Amphissa]

I really enjoy SACD audio. I especially like multichannel audio when it is done well.

If you are looking at inexpensive SACD players, I would recommend the Sony SCD-CE595. It is reliable and non-quirky. Moreover, it has decent audio playback of redbook CDs, which is often not the case with SACD players. Many SACD players do not play redbook CDs very well. Above all, avoid the "universal" SACD/DVD players in the low price range. Even if you are plugging your SACD player into a home theater setup, I'd still recommend a separate SACD unit rather than a universal SACD/DVD machine. They don't really do anything especially well.

As for a receiver, you'll need one if you plan to enjoy the multichannel audio capabilities of SACD. I personally like the Yamaha AV receiver better than the Sony at the lower price level. The Yamaha RX-V461 (5.1) or Yamaha RX-V457 (6.1) would be a good choice at about $250. But if you need to stay below $200 on the receiver, the Onkyo TX-SR504S 7.1 is very good at that price level. The audio quality is a definite strength of this receiver. Just be sure you can give it some room to breath and don't stack other components directly on top of it, because it tends to run hot.

[Leo K]

Amphissa, that was a huge help in making my decision...thanks much!!

---Leo

[sperlsco]

For an SACD player, I've been using the Sony SCD-CE775 for several years.  It is a 5-disc changer and sounds great on my mid-fi/budget system.  Someone mentioned the newer version of it which is numbered 795.  I think the main difference is that the newer one does not have a headphone output.  However, my 775's headphone output never sounded good -- but I did buy it originally as a floor model. 

A couple of years ago I purchased a Yamaha DVD-C750 universal (SACD and DVD-A) 5-disc changer from an ebay vendor (so it may have been a grey-market player - even though it was sold as "new").  I believe that this is the same version as the Yammy 6760 mentioned above.  The bass management on my player is terrible.  If I set the speakers up as small (80hz crossover), it introduces very audible distortion,  Setting the speakers to large sounds very nice, a long as the disc has 5.1 encoding; if not 5.1 encoded then I lose some bass because I have bookshelf speakers and nothing is directed to the sub.   Of course, the bass managment problem could just be my player -- and since I purchased it off ebay I had no recourse to have it repaired. 

Now, I have read extrememly good reviews of the Oppo 970 universal disc player.  It is supposed to be a good budget player for both video and audio, and it costs $150.  http://www.oppodigital.com/dv970hd/dv970hd.html .  I have considered tossing my Yammy player (or giving it away) and purchasing one.  I think that they also sell refurbs, when available, for $110.  Most of these universal players convert SACD's from DSD to PCM.  My universal Yammy does this, but it sounds just about as good as my pure DSD Sony player.  YMMV on this type of universal player, but for budget equipment I doubt you'd hear the difference.