Need recommendations for SACD player

drumminman

Hi all,

Thinking of getting into SACD's and looking for recommendations for a ~ $1k player. Have read about the Marantz SA 8004 and the Oppo 105. Not sure about the latter as this is for a two channel music system so alot of the bells and whistles would go unused.

Opinions based on experience given preference, but all recommendations welcome. Anyone compared the above two head to head?

Thanks!

erniejade

You missed the sale on here of my Pioneer Elite 9. Good player for the $. The oppo 105 seems to be the logical choice if you want to get into flac or DSD as well as SACD. I have not heard one but reading reviews on here and a few friends that picked one up, love them! If I had my choice right now, especially since I have been going more on the digital route, the 105 would be my choice.

ZLTFUL

I am with Ernie on this. The 105, regardless of the unused bells and whistles is quite simply a fantastic universal player at its price point.
It has a great transport, great DACs (Dual Sabre DACs) and all the bells and whistles if you decide you want them later on.

The 105 has been compared to universal players up to the $10k mark as far as performance in audio.

drumminman

The Oppo is definitely on my list.

What about the Teac CD-1000? Anybody spent time with this? It got a recommendation from TAS.

Toolfan66

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Most people don't use all the HP their car gives them as well.. Don't worry about unused features..

brgman

I use the 105 in a 2 channel system.The fact i get a great player and DAC in one is unmatched for the $$.
Things change all the time in most of our systems since we are never truly satisfied so teh flexibility of the 105 is unparalleled.

Mikey081057

I have the Marantz SA8004 and it is also a fine performer. Quietest transport i have ever heard. It is also very elegant looking if aesthetics mean any thing to your rig. But i am sure in the $1k price range you can't go wrong with either. My Marantz is out where you can see it in my 2 channel rig, and my oppo is in the cabinet in the ht where is belongs. If you need it to be a combo unit then hands down it would be the oppo.

drumminman

The two frontrunners are the Marantz and the Oppo for sure. Just want to be sure I'm considering all options. I have a decent BDP so the whatever I get would be doing duty only in the 2 channel system. But . . . . . . . . . . if I would up with the Oppo I would have to put it in the HT at least once just to see what the picture/sound quality was like.

I like the look of the Marantz alot, would love to hear of a shootout between the two.

chumlie

Just a FYI. There's a ModWright Oppo 83 at audiosharks forum for $625. Looks like a killer deal for the $$$

BlueFox

I have two Sony XA-5400ES SACD players, which are around $1500 new. You should be able to find a used one for $1K or less. However, I would recommend the Oppo 105. While the sound quality is probably similar, the Oppo has a digital input which means you can use its DAC for other sources. Plus, I believe in having a spare whatever, and this gives you a spare Blueray player.

AsSiMiLaTeD

I compared the Oppo 105 against the CA 752BD and preferred the Oppo. That doesn't help with the Marantz comparison, but you may want to audio the 752 as well. Although I didn't like it as much personally, it's a very good player and should be in the rotation for comparison for someone looking at players in this price range.

Although I've not heard the Marantz, I'm not generally a huge fan of the Cirrus DACs, though the chip itself is only a small piece of the whole sound.

The Oppo 105 gets my personal vote, but I'll add the 752 to your list and would recommend an audition of all three players.

tonyb

Most any Sony ES players, Oppo, Marantz SACD players should fit your needs and offer up some dang nice sound quality.

billbillw

I'll vote for the Pio Elite D9.

Not very common. Great looks (IMO), Solid, extreeeeemly well built. Great DACs, upscaling, good power supply, simple analog section, I love mine! Sounds as good as ANYTHING I've heard.

No way I'm selling it anytime soon, but here is one on the Bay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pioneer-Elite-PD-D9-J-Stereo-CD-and-SACD-Player-w-Remote-Cables-Box-Etc-/130984168959?pt=US_CD_Players_Recorders&hash=item1e7f43cdff

CoolJazz

I had the chance about a year ago to do a head to head comparison of that Marantz and my Oppo stock 83.

Me and a friend (with good ears) that had the Marantz listened pretty carefully to the two. On SACD, it was a toss up. Hard to tell a preference. On redbook, the Marantz was the winner. Just a bit better at being listenable. On the DVD-A discs I burn, the Oppo wins cause of course the Marantz bought onto the stupid Sony no-DVD-a thing. That alone would have made me, personally, choose the Oppo.

Since then I've picked up the Oppo 105. I've not had the chance to do another comparison. But I think it closed the gap at least on redbook. Then the versatility on a whole makes it really a really decent choice...IMHO. BTW...I only use it 2 channel.

But once you get used to higher data rate of any form, it's pretty obvious that redbook is still just a bit more of a freeze dried presentation. So dive in....

CJ

drumminman

tonyb wrote: »

Most any Sony ES players, Oppo, Marantz SACD players should fit your needs and offer up some dang nice sound quality.

I think you're right, it'll be difficult to make a bad choice here.

AsSiMiLaTeD wrote: »

I compared the Oppo 105 against the CA 752BD and preferred the Oppo. . . . The Oppo 105 gets my personal vote, but I'll add the 752 to your list and would recommend an audition of all three players.

I have a little bit of bias against Cambridge Audio as I bought one of their better CDP's a few years back and it died. Good design - poor build quality. They may have fixed that but it left a bad taste in my mouth.

Presently I'm running an older CDP into a Peter Daniel NOS DAC. I had Peter build it since that's a little above my ability, and it's killer on redbook. I'd like whatever I get to be at least as good as that :cool:

Wonder If I'm asking too much :question:

nooshinjohn

billbillw wrote: »

I'll vote for the Pio Elite D9.

Not very common. Great looks (IMO), Solid, extreeeeemly well built. Great DACs, upscaling, good power supply, simple analog section, I love mine! Sounds as good as ANYTHING I've heard.

No way I'm selling it anytime soon, but here is one on the Bay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pioneer-Elite-PD-D9-J-Stereo-CD-and-SACD-Player-w-Remote-Cables-Box-Etc-/130984168959?pt=US_CD_Players_Recorders&hash=item1e7f43cdff

I can toss a vote to the Pioneer Elite D9 as well. I was the owner of Ernie's D9, and after playing with a few others, I picked up a D9 MkII, and they sound superb, Very high build quality, easy to set up and use, fantastic analog section and good looks to boot.

erniejade

If your going to get into digitial files, the marantz does not do dsd where the oppo does.

WLDock

I've yet to go down the SACD hole but I keep reading forum after forum , review after review about how its such a no brainer to buy the 105 in the $1k+ range and have EVERYTHING covered without regret. However, in your situation maybe the $650 refurb Marantz makes sence? I guess you need to decide how many of the 105's features are useful to you.

Dawgfish

I'm gonna go a different path and recommend a NAD M55. It has superb SACD and DVD-A performance, but the icing on the cake is its red book cd performance. I used to run a seperate player exclusively for red book CDs (Consanance CD-120 balanced and Rega Appolo) or a DAC (MHDT Paradisea + with mods). The NAD M55 replaced all of these plus a SACD player in one nice tidy package and was a big upgrade on all fronts. You can often find them used on the Gon in the $600 range. They are a $2000 player new.

Upstatemax

In terms of Customer Service alone, Oppo is THE choice.

Marantz has awful CS IMO.

I love my BDP-103, if I had the coin at the time I would have the 105 in my system right now.

pitdogg2

Dawgfish wrote: »

I'm gonna go a different path and recommend a NAD M55. It has superb SACD and DVD-A performance, but the icing on the cake is its red book cd performance. I used to run a seperate player exclusively for red book CDs (Consanance CD-120 balanced and Rega Appolo) or a DAC (MHDT Paradisea + with mods). The NAD M55 replaced all of these plus a SACD player in one nice tidy package and was a big upgrade on all fronts. You can often find them used on the Gon in the $600 range. They are a $2000 player new.

And dog gone sexy to boot:biggrin:

pitdogg2

Upstatemax wrote: »

In terms of Customer Service alone, Oppo is THE choice.

Marantz has awful CS IMO.

While I have not had any Oppo gear. I will state that I will never ever wish to deal with Denon/Marantz CS EVER AGAIN. The do everything BUT tell the truth. They are a FIRST PLACE team for worst CS EVER!!!

Dawgfish

pitdogg2 wrote: »

And dog gone sexy to boot:biggrin:

Thanks! I think so too!