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Re: Suggestions for digital player--new to Hi-Rez

I don't have direct experience with the Samsung, so I will let others comment on it.

But I do have substantial SACD-DVDA-CD experience with Sony and Pioneer units, and have a definite POV on what you should consider.
I have found that units that can do DSD decoding directly, without converting to PCM, do the best job of revealing SACD's superior sound. In fact, if I had to use a system that didn't do DSD direct, and didn't do multichannel, I probably wouldn't bother with SACD.
I own both the Pioneer 578a univeral and three Sony lower-end SACD/CD players..the olderC775 changer, the older C222ES changer, and the newer C2000ES changer. The Pioneer converts SACD through PCM. Although it is a nice sounding unit (exceptional in DVD-A) it is substantially inferior to any of the Sony's in their "Direct Mode" on SACD disks. The Sony's also lose much of the vaulted SACD transparency when any mode other than "Direct" is chosen; in other words, when speaker compensation or a subwoofer crossover is used. Of the three Sonys, the later C2000ES, available on eBay as a grey market import for less than $300, is far and away the most transparent, although the older C222ES is smoother in the midrange and in some ways more "high-end" sounding as a result.

So my take in conclusion: go SACD, but go with a Sony ES model that allows you to use either 2ch or 5ch direct mode to obtain pure DSD decoding. In this mode you definitely will get really fine sound.
Harry


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