Yamaha S1800 DVD/SACD player

coolsax

Wanted to start a separate thread for the review. Finally had a chance to completely run this through its paces...

I got Diana Krall "when i look in your eyes" SACD as my first SACD... All I can say is Wow.. I'm already a fan of Diana, and actually thought I had this one on Redbook.. unfortunately I didn't so I couldn't compare the two, but I don't think I needed too. Hearing her Jazz/blues vocals with the instruments on S1800 was really enjoyable. Great wide soundstage and really felt like I was in the middle of an intimate performance with the multichannel.

I also listened to Elton John's Greatest hits and Transiberian Orchestra's Christmas Eve and other stories on Redbook. I could definitely hear a clearer and bigger soundstage along with much better imaging than with my old Toshiba Upconverting DVD player on both these CD's

Tonight I finally got a chance to watch a DVD on the player. All I can say is wow with regards to the upconvert. It looks great. very smooth and clear picture. I know the toshiba XDE has a good upconverter, but I think the Yamaha is just as good or better.

Overall compared to the Toshiba XDE, I am extremely satisfied with my acquisition. for 80 bucks I got a audio player that hands down kills the Toshiba, which is should, and a DVD upconverter that is on par or better. Thumbs up!

One thing I'm really looking forward to for this player is I saw Beach Boys "Pet Sounds" on DVD-A at Frys this weekend, and will have to pick it up sometime after xmas.

cnh

Nice review..do you happen to know what DACs are in the 1800? Are they Burr Browns perhaps? Just curious. Happy listening

cnh

vmaxer

I just ordered one from Amazon for 79.99....Yes they are Burr Brown DAC's

vmaxer

vmaxer wrote: »

I just ordered one from Amazon for 79.99....Yes they are Burr Brown DAC's

Keiko wrote: »

Be sure to go into the set-up menu and change the DVD setting to DVD Audio. I believe the default is DVD Video. You need to do this to take advantage of the hi-rez DVD-A. You will not need to switch it back when viewing movies.

I agree. The up-conversion on this player is top notch. Better than my PS3 which is decent as well. I paid almost full retail for this thing 2 years ago. I felt kinda sick when I saw it for 80.00. I bought a second for back-up, so I don't feel as bad now.

I received my player and liked it enough to order a second one. Great deal for 80.00

danz1906

Congrats!

math wizard

Can this player play SACD's via HDMI?

BlueFox

When I saw this thread I thought it said "Yamaha $1800 DVD/SACD player". Now that would be a player to review.

WilliamM2

math wizard wrote: »

Can this player play SACD's via HDMI?

No .

sk1939

math wizard wrote: »

Can this player play SACD's via HDMI?

No SACD player will output multi channel audio through a digital output for whatever reason (copyrights most likely). HDMI is a digital interface for better or worse, and although can be used for two channel (pfft), it's real purpose is multi channel audio.

Danny Tse

math wizard wrote: »

Can this player play SACD's via HDMI?

WilliamM2 wrote: »

No .

With the departure of Oppo's 980 DVD-based universal player, currently the only sub-$200.00 DVD-based universal player that can transmit DSD using HDMI is the Onkyo DV-SP506S (just add it to cart to see actual price).

BlueFox

sk1939 wrote: »

No SACD player will output multi channel audio through a digital output for whatever reason (copyrights most likely).

Wrong. The Sony NS9100ES SACD/DVD uses iLink (firewire) to the Sony DA7100ES for SACD, and also uses a jitter reduction technology called HATS. I have this in the HT, and it sounds great.

The Sony XA5400ES will send SACD over HDMI. I have this player in the 2 channel room, but I only use the stereo XLR outputs.

sk1939

BlueFox wrote: »

Wrong. The Sony NS9100ES SACD/DVD uses iLink (firewire) to the Sony DA7100ES for SACD, and also uses a jitter reduction technology called HATS. I have this in the HT, and it sounds great.

The Sony XA5400ES will send SACD over HDMI. I have this player in the 2 channel room, but I only use the stereo XLR outputs.

Read what I said, for multi channel audio, and nowhere did I specifically say it won't output audio or multichannel audio. It will output audio over HDMI, and while HDMI is digital, it's not the only digital output. So the answer to his question is Yes (should have explained better, it's late).

Why would you have both the NS9100ES and the XA5400ES....you must really love your Sony gear. Personally, while it IS blasphemy in audiophile realm, I use my computer to play my audio tyvm (FLAC or WAV lossless). I have far too many CD's and not enough space available to keep them in physical form.

BlueFox

sk1939 wrote: »

Read what I said, for multi channel audio, and nowhere did I specifically say it won't output audio or multichannel audio. It will output audio over HDMI, and while HDMI is digital, it's not the only digital output. So the answer to his question is Yes (should have explained better, it's late).

Why would you have both the NS9100ES and the XA5400ES....you must really love your Sony gear. Personally, while it IS blasphemy in audiophile realm, I use my computer to play my audio tyvm (FLAC or WAV lossless). I have far too many CD's and not enough space available to keep them in physical form.

Get a clue. I did read what you said. I know what you meant (standard digital optical or coax link), but what you meant is not what you said. Both players output multi-channel SACD audio over digital. In fact, HDMI is the only way to get multi-channel audio out of the XA5400ES, since it only has stereo analog outputs.

I have both players because I have two systems, an HT multi-channel system, and a 2 channel system. I only use the XA5400ES for stereo SACD playback, and to audition CDs to see if they are iPod worthy. If a CD is good enough it goes onto the iPod in Apple Lossless format, and is played back via the Wadia iTransport, through a Bryston DAC, and into the pre-amp.

sk1939

BlueFox wrote: »

Get a clue. I did read what you said. I know what you meant (standard digital optical or coax link), but what you meant is not what you said. Both players output multi-channel SACD audio over digital. In fact, HDMI is the only way to get multi-channel audio out of the XA5400ES, since it only has stereo analog outputs.

I have both players because I have two systems, an HT multi-channel system, and a 2 channel system. I only use the XA5400ES for stereo SACD playback, and to audition CDs to see if they are iPod worthy. If a CD is good enough it goes onto the iPod in Apple Lossless format, and is played back via the Wadia iTransport, through a Bryston DAC, and into the pre-amp.

As long as he understood what I said, thats all that matters. I am not interested in starting a war. W

hile being where you are in California means that you probably have some money (Cali isn't cheap, especially not San Jose), your also talking about players that cost $1.5k, and are audiophile grade. If your going audiophile grade, you wouldn't be using HDMI in the first place, so while it's true that they do support audio out multi channel over HDMI, it's relatively irrelevant to the topic at hand, this post IS for a budget universal player remember, those reading this probably aren't going to be going out and spending $1500 on a player. There is only 1 player as mentioned before that is a few hundred that will output SA CD audio out of HDMI.

cnh

Understood...let's play nice here. NO reason to get one's trousers ruffled over this.

cnh