Thread: Inexpensive SACD playback equipment

Posts: 7

Post by Northernmind October 9, 2003 (1 of 7)
NOTE: I am an authorized Sony dealer. This post is not intended to advertise, promote, or sell any product. It is simply intended to get your opinions on various Sony SACD compatible products.

I have been working at an audio/video store in a small town for some time. I had the oppertunity to hear SACD for the first time at a Sony trade show two years ago. I instantly fell in love with the technology, and have found a number of forums online in which to discuss it. However, I've found a very audiophile-type bend to most of the discussions. These people seem to think that only the highest end equipment will do, anything less is a waste of time.

Now what I'm wondering is this: Sony has released three Home-Theatre-in-a-box systems, the DAVC450, DAVFC7 and DAVFC9. Priced very reasonably, all three systems are SACD compatible, although most people would say they are far from high end equipment. Would you say they are worth the investment, if it means more people are introduced to SACD? If you were limited on space/budget/etc, would you buy one, if it was the only way to get SACD? Or would you simply wait until you could afford a more expensive system?

Any thoughts or comments would be appreciated. Again, it is not my intent to sell or promote any product here, but as a Sony dealer I do feel a bit responsible for introducing my small community to this great technology, and I would like to know which systems I should be using to do it.

Thank you.

Adam Victor Weeks

Post by Khorn October 10, 2003 (2 of 7)
Northernmind said:

Now what I'm wondering is this: Sony has released three Home-Theatre-in-a-box systems, the DAVC450, DAVFC7 and DAVFC9. Priced very reasonably, all three systems are SACD compatible, although most people would say they are far from high end equipment. Would you say they are worth the investment, if it means more people are introduced to SACD? If you were limited on space/budget/etc, would you buy one, if it was the only way to get SACD? Or would you simply wait until you could afford a more expensive system?

First off, most people posting here have an above average interest in music reproduction therefore probably would invest more than average in a music reproduction system. Then there are of course the "audiofool nuts" like myself who would invest more in an SACD PLAYER than most people invest in their ENTIRE SYSTEMS! Having said that, I think you should ask youself one question:

Taking SACD out of the equation if a customer approached you saying they were really interested in musical reproduction would you recommend any of the above systems to them? I'm not familiar with the particular equipment but, if you feel it is capable of satisfying reproduction in a general musical sense then it probably will do so with SACD. If however you wouldn't normally recommend these systems but felt something better would be more appropriate, the same would apply in the SACD sense.

Take the above with the full understanding that the writer, myself, has long since passed the point of sanity when it comes to audio equipment! :-)

Post by zeus October 10, 2003 (3 of 7)
Northernmind said:

Now what I'm wondering is this: [blank] has released three Home-Theatre-in-a-box systems, the [blank], [blank] and [blank]. Priced very reasonably, all three systems are SACD compatible, although most people would say they are far from high end equipment. Would you say they are worth the investment, if it means more people are introduced to SACD? If you were limited on space/budget/etc, would you buy one, if it was the only way to get SACD? Or would you simply wait until you could afford a more expensive system?

I would have thought you'd be better placed to answer these questions. I got the impression that Sony's emphasis on SACD was pretty low key with the earlier models. Are consumers now asking for this? I did however talk with some retailers who were pretty confused about Sony's dedication to the format when SACD capability was pulled from later models.

Also, I'd feel more comfortable if your questions were more general. I see no point in your mentioning brand and specific model numbers in this context. I will delete posts that could be construed as promotion or sales pitches. I'm sure this wasn't your intention here though.

Stephen Best
SACDinfo.com

Post by david elias October 10, 2003 (4 of 7)
Northernmind said:

NOTE: I am an authorized Sony dealer. This post is not intended to advertise, promote, or sell any product. It is simply intended to get your opinions on various Sony SACD compatible products.

I bought the DAV-C770 last year shortly after it came out. There were a few reasons for the purchase. Overall it was the easiest and cheapest way to be able for me to playback surround sound (multichannel) SACDs at home. Shortly after that, I bought a Sony SCD-C775 SACD player at a ridiculously low price for the discontinued model. This is hooked up to my home studio which is just stereo at the moment.

There is really no comparison at all between the audio quality of the two systems. I much prefer hearing the stereo through the SCD-C775 than either stereo or multichannel through the DAV-C770 The DAV-C770 is excellent for DVD videos. The DTS video playback of Neil Young's Greendale concert in Dublin is exceptionally good audio using DTS 5.1 in a very authentic and resonant fashion for his solo acoustic performance. It sounds great. By comparison, Pink Floyd's DSOTM in surround on the DAV-C770 sounds pretty flat overall, especially at higher volumes which also get distorted.

I think that the biggest problem with SACD multichannel is the cost of "getting there". There is no easy way to expand an existing stereo system to surround sound. You have to start all over again, probably including replacing 2 speakers with a new group.

By contrast, hooking up the SCD-C775 to my existing stereo outfitted studio with Hafler monitors took about 5 seconds. It sounds amazing! It is certainly easier to convice someone to upgrade their CD player, than to replace their stereo sound system.

To try to summarize, the Sony Dream Systems (at least my model) are a great price for a lot of features and a complete DVD and SACD system. I paid $559 last year and spent $100 more for 4 speaker stands. It seems a great way to add DVD and "test" surround from SACD. But for any discriminating listener, it will probably be insufficient to meet their expectations for high quality audio.

Regards,
David Elias

Post by Tireguy October 11, 2003 (5 of 7)
In regards to the inexpensive sacd players I've found there performance to be very lack luster and doing more damage then good for this format. I am sick and tired of hearing people claiming there is no difference because they are listening to a 30 year old pair of speakers and a $199 SACD player- so the format is clearly no good! I've had a few SACD players(current reference is the EMM labs DAC and transport), I also had the sony 9000es and I didn't like it, redbook performance was pretty poor for a unit that retailed for that much and the SACD wasn't much better(or the software wasn't that much better at the time, though I don't suspect that because now even the early SACD releases sound great compared to the original redbook versions). I had accuphase seperates at that time(not the SACD seperates) and it outperformed the sony sacd by a wide margin, then I got an audio aero capitole mkII and that made the sony unlistenable at which point I sold it and took a sabatical from the format. Now I am back in the sacd game and it is great!

The reason I feel these cheap players are doing harm is because countless people will get one expecting it to outperform every redbook cd player made and that simply isn't the case. Most decent cd players will outperform cheap SACD players, regardless of how much more information is present. Then these people who have $199 sacd players will buy 2 sacd's and then think they are an expert and post every where 'that there is no difference and its all marketing for the record companies'(they may be partially correct in regards to marketing).

I think I've rambled enough..... any other thoughts??

Post by Northernmind October 11, 2003 (6 of 7)
Thank you all for your responses. I will be more careful in the future to generalize my posts, and to not specifically mention brands or products that I sell.

It seems the general feeling is that it's much better to wait, be patient, and invest money in better, higher grade components. Once the "instant gratification" is taken out of the equation, I would hate to be left with a sub-par system, one that can not do the original recording justice.
I suppose that means I had better start saving my money. :-)

Adam Weeks

Post by Galley October 20, 2003 (7 of 7)
Pioneer now makes a HTIB that plays both SACD and DVD-Audio. It sells for $450. I have never seen one in person, but CompUSA lists them.
http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pe/product/detail/0,,2076_2047433_2046342,00.html

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