Thread: Shopping for a New Player

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Post by mbash June 9, 2007 (11 of 22)
Go for the PlayStation3. Multi-channel SACD via HDMI into your receiver.

Regards, Maurice

Post by stvnharr June 9, 2007 (12 of 22)
Oh my goodness, all this discussion on cheap players. There are certainly a number of inexpensive (under $500) players that offer reasonable sound. BUT, the word quality is always missing in this discussion.
I've heard a fully modded OPPO player and if you don't care about having a cheap looking player, the fully modded OPPO for $800 is a giant killer. The stock $150 player is just another cheap player.
You can have cheap. And you can have quality. But the two words don't really go together back to back in the same sentence.

Post by threerandot June 10, 2007 (13 of 22)
stvnharr said:

Oh my goodness, all this discussion on cheap players. There are certainly a number of inexpensive (under $500) players that offer reasonable sound. BUT, the word quality is always missing in this discussion.
I've heard a fully modded OPPO player and if you don't care about having a cheap looking player, the fully modded OPPO for $800 is a giant killer. The stock $150 player is just another cheap player.
You can have cheap. And you can have quality. But the two words don't really go together back to back in the same sentence.

As I said before, I am in no rush to buy anything yet. My only trouble is that living in Canada will make a modded player very expensive, especially sending it across the border and back again! Anyone in Canada modding SACD players out there?

Post by stvnharr June 10, 2007 (14 of 22)
threerandot said:

As I said before, I am in no rush to buy anything yet. My only trouble is that living in Canada will make a modded player very expensive, especially sending it across the border and back again! Anyone in Canada modding SACD players out there?

Yes, this is not a small concern. However, you can buy an OPPO at Reference Audio Mods and have them do the modifications and then ship to you. This at least reduces shipping expense. The midification services of PartsConnexion, a Canadian parts house, may not be in Canada, but perhaps you could contact them directly for clarification.

Post by threerandot June 10, 2007 (15 of 22)
stvnharr said:

Yes, this is not a small concern. However, you can buy an OPPO at Reference Audio Mods and have them do the modifications and then ship to you. This at least reduces shipping expense. The midification services of PartsConnexion, a Canadian parts house, may not be in Canada, but perhaps you could contact them directly for clarification.

Thanks for the link to Reference Audio Mods. I am inquiring about making mods to my Sony SCD-XE670. I only have the issue of the open/close problem with the tray. I do not know if they will mod/repair such an issue, however.

Thanks again.

Post by stvnharr June 10, 2007 (16 of 22)
threerandot said:

Thanks for the link to Reference Audio Mods. I am inquiring about making mods to my Sony SCD-XE670. I only have the issue of the open/close problem with the tray. I do not know if they will mod/repair such an issue, however.

Thanks again.

Your best option for modifying your XE670 player is one of Allen Wright's agents. See www.vacuumstate.com for further information. Allen has done some terrific things with the early Sony players. Cost depends on how far you choose to go with the modifications.

Post by threerandot June 10, 2007 (17 of 22)
stvnharr said:

Your best option for modifying your XE670 player is one of Allen Wright's agents. See www.vacuumstate.com for further information. Allen has done some terrific things with the early Sony players. Cost depends on how far you choose to go with the modifications.

Thanks for the link! I'll check them out.

Post by Shakespear777 May 9, 2009 (18 of 22)
I've owned the Sony CE595 for a couple of months and have found it to be a very enjoyable addition to my system.

I read rave reviews about the Tube Research Labs modifications so I sprung for the $750.00 and just got it back yesterday. It sounds better but the widely held belief, including the owner of TRL is that it requires about three weeks of constant play to burn in the electronics. So I've got it loaded up and running 24hrs/day.

The concensus of many knowlegeble listeners is that this is a giant killer and will perform in the same ballpark as many very, very expensive units. If I threw the numbers at you you'd laugh in my face. But google it and see what some pretty smart listeners and even competitors are saying.

Post by stvnharr May 9, 2009 (19 of 22)
Shakespear777 said:

I've owned the Sony CE595 for a couple of months and have found it to be a very enjoyable addition to my system.

I read rave reviews about the Tube Research Labs modifications so I sprung for the $750.00 and just got it back yesterday. It sounds better but the widely held belief, including the owner of TRL is that it requires about three weeks of constant play to burn in the electronics. So I've got it loaded up and running 24hrs/day.

The concensus of many knowlegeble listeners is that this is a giant killer and will perform in the same ballpark as many very, very expensive units. If I threw the numbers at you you'd laugh in my face. But google it and see what some pretty smart listeners and even competitors are saying.

Glad you are happy with your player, but it's no giant killer, sorry. It's a cheap Sony of limited means. I owned the ES version of this player and it does offer good value for the money spent. But the player is incapable of anything but standard performance, even with some damping and minor changes from modification. When I wanted more than the Sony could deliver, I got another player.
But no question, after 3 weeks you will be even happier after the required burn in time makes it all better.
You will be enjoying your music very much!!

Post by rammiepie May 9, 2009 (20 of 22)
Lest you forget, Mods on an existing player void the manufacturer's warranty. And this is totally against everything you want, but at this late stage I would spring for the OPPO BDP-83 Blu-ray player which at $599 (US) will incorporate all their latest technology in a single chassis...There is almost NOTHING you will not be able to play and since HDMI is the current standard, you can elect to output DSD either in stereo or M/C thru the HDMI directly to your receiver without the usual PCM corruption...from my experience with OPPO, it definitely plays SACD better than DVD-A and that might be the unit you would consider a MOD on in the future. But don't expect stellar CD playback at this price point, either. It also has 7.1 analogue outputs (which the new SONY SACD player does NOT).

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