Transport for a dCS Delius - HELP

Thank you all for your great feedback!

I actually went ahead and ordered a Philips 963 and the much talked about BlackGate power supply cap to mod the unit... At $320 for the player and $20 for the cap, I couldn't pass it up. It will make for an interesting experiment with the dCS and could always move in to my video system when not in use in the 2-channel system. From what I've read, most like the upsampling in the 96k setting, but it'll be interesting to hear what the Delius does with it.

Now, some indvidual responses:

Ndjedinak, your comments on the CEC were what turned me on to them. While I haven't heard one personally, the idea of a belt drive transport sure is interesting... I'd guess it has the "analog" sound that the air bearing Forsell does.

Sm2727, if you decide that you want to sell your CDD at some point, feel free to drop me a line! While the Verdi is ultimately what I'd like to pair up with the Delius, your CDD might be interesting if since it has had a rebuild. If the price and condition are right, I'm sure it would make a great upgrade over my PCD3 since the PCD3 is only RCA out.

Sdecker, from what I've read, the dCS is very resistant to jitter, so it will most likely respond like your DAC2 does do different transports. While the Delius won't be able to decode SACD from the 963 (from what I understand), I'm really excited to hear what the upsampling does since I don't have a Purcell.

Again, thank you all for your great input! It sure is nice having an outlet to discuss these issues...

Gtb75- the $20.BG cap will help lower the power supply noise a bit, but if you plan to use the Philips as a transport, you should also replace the cheap
caps in the digital circuit path with N or NX series BGs.
A Bybee Purifier in series with digital output would also make a nice improvement.

The 963 is a great little player for the money but as a transport its nothing special. I have one (with the BG in the ps) and recently swapped in my Sony DVP-S7000 as a transport - not even close. The Sony extracts so much more detail its not funny. But again I reiterate that the Philips is a great player for the buck.

I'm not expecting the 963 to be the "ultimate" transport, but I'm hoping it's better than the Nakamichi MB-2 I'm stuck using while my PCD3 is out for service. I'd be very surprised if the 963 even ends up as good as the PCD3 sounded (when it was working)...

At the moment, I'm only going to do the cap in the power supply of the 963 and see what that yields. As I mentioned, my main goal in this experiment is to see what the upsampling can do with the Delius. I don't want to make a huge investment in the 963 until I can A/B it with my PCD3 when it's back from repair. Besides, I'd rather put the money towards a Proceed CDD (for the AES/EBU connection), Sony 777, or a dCS Verdi.

I guess that brings up another interesting question... Which of the following makes more sense to you all:

1. Invest $4000 to $6000 in a Verdi to connect directly to my Delius (don't have a Purcell).
2. Invest $3000 to $4000 in either a CDD or 777 AND a Purcell - again to connect to the Delius I already have.

I'm guessing that option 2 is going to give me more of a sonic benefit based on what I remember of the Purcell, but I'd be curious to hear what you all think...

Again, thank you all for your time and feedback!

You pretty much will move the 963 to your video system after playing with it. It plays okay as a sacd / upsampleing player but it's definitely not a well built unit to use as a good transport.