Is it worth buying an SACD player?

Sony does offer an Blue Ray Player with SACD decoding. It's the PS3 (except the 40 GB version). But Sony has abandonded the music side of SACD.

I have about 200 SACDs and DVD Audio discs (DVD Audio is closer to death's door than SACD, but they are both destined for extinction.) That said, there are a few niche labels which continue to offer new SACD material and there is a good assortment of SACD and DVD Audio discs available used. I have no regrets about having purchased the hardware and software and would do so now despite the doomsday future of the formats.

As for sound quality, both formats are superior, in my opinion, to LP and redbook CD. I have a number of discs in SACD or DVD Audio and LP and/or redbook CD versions. In all cases, the SACDs and DVD A discs are remarkably better.

BTW, SACD and DVD A are generally accessed by analogue, not digital connection. The Sony ES-XA9000 and some Denon players have proprietary digital out connections which work only with their high-end receivers/preamps. The standard Coax and optical digital connections do not transmit any SACD or DVD A signals. Therefore, unless you're intending to spend thousands, you needn't worry about analogue connection; it's the only way to go. I wonder if you simply haven't discovered that your current player can play SACD material. Some SACDs are multi-layer discs; they have five-channel and/or two-channel SACD layers as well as standard Redbook CD layers. You have to choose which layer to listen to. If your DVD player has the SACD logo on it, it definitely plays at least the two-channel SACD layers as well as the Redbood CD layers.

Unsound:
I think it interesting that Sony has yet to offer a Blue Ray player with SACD decoding. That makes me wonder about the future of SACD.

Yes but they introduced two new SACD players at CEDIA.

Pzuckerman:
BTW, SACD and DVD A are generally accessed by analogue, not digital connection.

Until recently when DSD via HDMI has become common.

Kal

Pioneer kept making a couple of Laser Disc players for a few years after the obvious demise of that format too.

OK, maybe it sounds like I know what I'm talking about in my original query, I don't!
But FYI, I'm using a tube pre-amp Rogue Perseus in to the tube Rogue Monoblock 150's driving Magneplanar 1.6 QR's.
I reread the manual and this is what it says, and I don't know if makes a difference. And I may have misinterpretted the value of such, since I don't really know what "LPCM rate" means--

Credit Camridge Audio DVD99 player user manual
"48K-supported by most equipment
96K-Allows a higher sampling rate and frequency response. It can result in higher audio quality. Ensure that the receiver/amplifier can support it.
192K--Allows the highest sampling rate and frequency response. It can result in the best audio quality. Ensure that the receiver/amplifier can support it."

That said, I could not adjust the LPCM to anything other than 48K after setting it to read the SACD's as stereo. I assumed, possibly in error, that I may not be getting any better sound than a regular CD?

Just FYI, this DVD player does have digital (Toslink) and coax audio outputs. HDMI and composite video too. The manual says it supports full 7.1 surround too and multi-channel audio. The complete manual is available online at the Cambridge Audio web page if anyone is interested.

I bought this because it also has a USB interface I (and the dealer) thought could be used to access my external HDD with my catalog of uncompressed music on. (like my PS3 can, yes I bought the 40 gig stupid Yes!)) But it can't, go figure. But it does play SACD/DVD Audio and the CD player is way better than the average Best Buy/Circuit City stuff. So, I'm considering keeping it, if it can really play SACD level sound through my 2-channel system, which ain't too shabby. If not, I can take it back and look for something that can play SACD, you guys confirmed my suspicion that it would be worth while.

OK. It can play SACD via the analog outputs and via HDMI. It is never available via coax or toslink.

I suspect that the LPCM setting is irrelevant to SACD since (1) DSD is not PCM and (2) none of those values represent the sample rate for DSD. (DSD, btw, is the common data format for SACD.)

Since most SACDs are hybrids, you should be able to compare SACD with the CD layer on the same disc.

Kal