Blu ray and SACD

BTW, several new universal players were announced/shown at CEDIA to join those already noted.

Kal

Just to add to the Play Station 3 comments. Only the older 60 Gig and older 80 Gig PS3 play SACD. I don't believe the newer 80 Gig, 40 Gig or the 120 Gig do. I have the older 80 Gig and it works great, plus like Buconero117 said, software update is great and it plays SACD and MP3 over a network as well as videos over a network. My favorite option on my PS3 80 Gig is the ability to play HiDef video. I have a Canon HiDef camcorder that records to SD memory cards. I pop them into the PS3 card reader and get up to 1080P video on my plasma.

"I am in the process of purchasing a Blu ray player and I would like to know whether any Blu ray player will play SACD in its true format as it was meant to be played (not just because it is compatible)."

from what I know the two new SACD/BD players from Marantz UD9004 and UD8004 play SACD natively.

PS Does anybody know any Blu-ray player that will play Blu-ray discs without converting 24bit/48kHz do delta-sigma?

BTW, you'll find a complete list of SACD/BD players here:

http://ps3sacd.com/sacd_bd_players.html

Neilspeed, I was in your position 6 months ago and would have bought the Denon universal had it been available then. However, I was impatient and went the two box route and bought a Pioneer BDO 09 FD for blu ray (about 2K), and a Sony XA 5400 ES for SACD. Both are state of the art players and the two boxes combined are priced lower than the Denon single box. I suspect the Denon is audio and video wise at the same level as my separates. Drawbacks of the two box solution are: The Sony has no multi channel analog outs. If (as I do) you prefer MC analog out over HDMI, for SACD you don't have that option. Other drawback is the Sony LPCM output for MC SACD does not work with all processors (ask Kal about this), so you may be limited in what processors you can use the Sony with. I am using the DSD direct option (works with Onkyo/Integra, Denon, Sony and Pioneer processors - possibly others). I would suggest that if you are using SACD in two channel only you should consider my setup. If you want more flexibility and use MC SACD audio, you should try the Denon. If you're on a budget its a no brainer and you should get the Oppo. In fact, if you subscribe to the bits are bits filosophy you should consider saving $$$ on the source components and see how well Oppo HDMI out sounds/looks in combination with a top notch HDMI processor (Classe 800, Halcro etc.).