Universal DVD/SACD Players

I am thinking that it is time to get a DVD player, and I am thinking of
taking the opportunity to try what the high resolution audio formats (DVD-A
and SACD). I consider vinyl to be my main source but I also have a
reasonably good CD player (Meridian 500 feeding an AudioNote 1.1 DAC).

The main reason for going for a DVD player now is for the Video side
(although I am not too bothered about video quality), but I am hoping that
I will also be able to start building up a DVD-A and/or SACD collection.

Without going wild there seem to be three price points - a £200 player
(Pioneer), a £450 player and a £800 player - anything above that is ruled
out at the moment on the grounds that prices are still falling and quality
still rising and the technology changing. Even the £800 (e.g. Denon 2900)
would seem to be a lot to pay for a player that is likely to need upgrading
in 2-3 years.

I am interested to know what experience people have of players in this price
range. I am assuming that none of them will better the Meridian/AN combo on
RedBook (and will still use that as the main CD player), but how will their
hi-res sound compare with my current CD?

My current inclination is to go for the cheapest and wait a couple of years
for things to settle, but will I be able to live with the sound quality?

Look at the current catalogue of SACD & DVD-Audio titles. Are there enough
titles for you to warrant buying one (or both) format capable DVD player?

Look at the current catalogue of SACD & DVD-Audio titles. Are there enough
titles for you to warrant buying one (or both) format capable DVD player?

"Nath" wrote in message
...
Look at the current catalogue of SACD & DVD-Audio titles. Are there enough
titles for you to warrant buying one (or both) format capable DVD player?

Not I think if that were the main reason for buying one; and that is one
reason I am inclined towards the cheaper end of the market. However I
believe that eventually one (or both) of the formats will supersede CD so I
will want to go that way eventually.

Given that I intend to buy a DVD player for the Video side now anyway, it
seems like a good opportunity to get the added benefit of hi-res digital
audio for only a little more dosh (at least in the case of the cheap
pioneer).

I suppose I could rephrase the question as is there enough benefit to be had
in terms of improved sound quality from the more expensive players to
justify the extra cost at this stage?

"Nath" wrote in message
...
Look at the current catalogue of SACD & DVD-Audio titles. Are there enough
titles for you to warrant buying one (or both) format capable DVD player?

Not I think if that were the main reason for buying one; and that is one
reason I am inclined towards the cheaper end of the market. However I
believe that eventually one (or both) of the formats will supersede CD so I
will want to go that way eventually.

Given that I intend to buy a DVD player for the Video side now anyway, it
seems like a good opportunity to get the added benefit of hi-res digital
audio for only a little more dosh (at least in the case of the cheap
pioneer).

I suppose I could rephrase the question as is there enough benefit to be had
in terms of improved sound quality from the more expensive players to
justify the extra cost at this stage?

"Bedouin" wrote in message
...
"Nath" wrote in message
...
However I believe that eventually one (or both) of the formats will
supersede CD so I
will want to go that way eventually.

Given that I intend to buy a DVD player for the Video side now anyway, it
seems like a good opportunity to get the added benefit of hi-res digital
audio for only a little more dosh (at least in the case of the cheap
pioneer).

I suppose I could rephrase the question as is there enough benefit to be
had
in terms of improved sound quality from the more expensive players to
justify the extra cost at this stage?



I very much doubt SACD and DVD-Audio will ever replace CD. They've been out
for a few years now, and the lack of software, confusion regarding setup,
and inability to see any in the high street means they'll both die off (IMO)
a bit like HDCD. I read that (DVD-Audio/SACD titles) in the biggest music
store in NY were located in the corner, incorrectly labelled and basically
forgotten, with only a few titles. If huge stores have a small collection-
what's the chance your local woolies/whsmith store has a dedicated
DVD-Audio/SACD rack? Most audio shops don't even know what HDCD is, let
alone these two new formats. And they think all DVD players play DVD-Audio
discs (again confusion)

Personally when I replace my DVD player I will only buy a bog standard
player (excellent picture, digital outputs) not bothered with DVD-Audio or
SACD.

Since you have a decent system, you might need to get a relatively decent
sounding player.. and not the cheapest (cheap DAC's, poor sound etc)
Probably won't be too bad if you had budget system- you probably won't spot
cheap sounding player.

I would start at around £450- something like the HK DVD30.

"Bedouin" wrote in message
...
"Nath" wrote in message
...
However I believe that eventually one (or both) of the formats will
supersede CD so I
will want to go that way eventually.

Given that I intend to buy a DVD player for the Video side now anyway, it
seems like a good opportunity to get the added benefit of hi-res digital
audio for only a little more dosh (at least in the case of the cheap
pioneer).

I suppose I could rephrase the question as is there enough benefit to be
had
in terms of improved sound quality from the more expensive players to
justify the extra cost at this stage?



I very much doubt SACD and DVD-Audio will ever replace CD. They've been out
for a few years now, and the lack of software, confusion regarding setup,
and inability to see any in the high street means they'll both die off (IMO)
a bit like HDCD. I read that (DVD-Audio/SACD titles) in the biggest music
store in NY were located in the corner, incorrectly labelled and basically
forgotten, with only a few titles. If huge stores have a small collection-
what's the chance your local woolies/whsmith store has a dedicated
DVD-Audio/SACD rack? Most audio shops don't even know what HDCD is, let
alone these two new formats. And they think all DVD players play DVD-Audio
discs (again confusion)

Personally when I replace my DVD player I will only buy a bog standard
player (excellent picture, digital outputs) not bothered with DVD-Audio or
SACD.

Since you have a decent system, you might need to get a relatively decent
sounding player.. and not the cheapest (cheap DAC's, poor sound etc)
Probably won't be too bad if you had budget system- you probably won't spot
cheap sounding player.

I would start at around £450- something like the HK DVD30.

"Nath" wrote in message
...
Look at the current catalogue of SACD & DVD-Audio titles. Are there enough
titles for you to warrant buying one (or both) format capable DVD player?

I've no idea how many DVD-A releases there are, but for SACD there are
currently 1529 titles available world-wide, with about another 100 announced
but not yet released. You won't find many of them in your local high street,
but if you did they would be very expensive, so one needs to purchase them
via the internet. No big deal as I was buying most of my CDs and DVDs this
way before I got my SACD player.

"Nath" wrote in message
...
Look at the current catalogue of SACD & DVD-Audio titles. Are there enough
titles for you to warrant buying one (or both) format capable DVD player?

I've no idea how many DVD-A releases there are, but for SACD there are
currently 1529 titles available world-wide, with about another 100 announced
but not yet released. You won't find many of them in your local high street,
but if you did they would be very expensive, so one needs to purchase them
via the internet. No big deal as I was buying most of my CDs and DVDs this
way before I got my SACD player.

On Sun, 30 Nov 2003 23:24:22 -0000, "Nath" wrote:

I very much doubt SACD and DVD-Audio will ever replace CD. They've been out
for a few years now, and the lack of software, confusion regarding setup,
and inability to see any in the high street means they'll both die off (IMO)
a bit like HDCD. I read that (DVD-Audio/SACD titles) in the biggest music
store in NY were located in the corner, incorrectly labelled and basically
forgotten, with only a few titles. If huge stores have a small collection-
what's the chance your local woolies/whsmith store has a dedicated
DVD-Audio/SACD rack? Most audio shops don't even know what HDCD is, let
alone these two new formats. And they think all DVD players play DVD-Audio
discs (again confusion)

Of course, the lack of stock and knowledge is a reason the
brick-and-mortar music stores are being beaten to death by the web
merchants. I rarely go to any of the music stores here in NYC
because they rarely ever have anything that I am looking for.

OTOH, there's no problem buying SACDs/DVD-As on the web. As for
repertoire, I have somewhere near 500 so far and, particularly for
MCH, enjoy them more than standard CDs.

As for the ignorance in many audio shops, I am shocked, shocked! ;-)

Kal