I own the Yamaha B-S681 proposed by rwortman. At it's price level it is a fine sounding unit. I use mime primarily for movies however CDs sound great via analog output. It has a CD direct mode which removes unneeded circuitries from signal path.
Need a SACD DVD player on a low budget.
I am looking for a SACD player with:
A. High-end analog stereo RCA output.
B. No fan.
C. Ideally, it would also play DVD with 1080p upscaling via a HDMI output.
Target budget is $300 total, maximum up to $333, including shipping. Obviously at this price point, used is fine.
Analog stereo output is a requirement because my receiver is analog stereo only.
My original idea was to find a BluRay/Universal player that has great analog audio out, but my research points to the following, which are all outside my budget:
Oppo BDP-83SE, Oppo BDP-95, Oppo BDP-105, Marantz UD7007.
Even with these players, reviewers say they are not as good via analog RCA out as older non-bluray players. Therefore I scaled back and eliminated BluRay from the requirement to get within budget, since sound quality is paramount.
An alternative would be to get a preamp/processor to provide high quality analog stereo outputs downmixed from HDMI inputs, and get a cheap universal player as a transport. If I had multiple HDMI inputs, I could also connect my Roku Streaming Stick +. Roku is currently connected to the TV, whose stereo analog out is probably not very hifi. Maybe I am better off getting a preamp/processor so I can play BluRay from a cheap universal transport, even if that means I have to bump up the budget by $50-100. I just don’t know the preamp market at all yet. Thoughts?
For DVD players, I have read people praising the following:
Oppo DV-980H
Denon DVD-2910, DVD-3910, DVD-2930ci, DVD-3930ci
What would you recommend?
FYI, my system is described in my profile.
A. High-end analog stereo RCA output.
B. No fan.
C. Ideally, it would also play DVD with 1080p upscaling via a HDMI output.
Target budget is $300 total, maximum up to $333, including shipping. Obviously at this price point, used is fine.
Analog stereo output is a requirement because my receiver is analog stereo only.
My original idea was to find a BluRay/Universal player that has great analog audio out, but my research points to the following, which are all outside my budget:
Oppo BDP-83SE, Oppo BDP-95, Oppo BDP-105, Marantz UD7007.
Even with these players, reviewers say they are not as good via analog RCA out as older non-bluray players. Therefore I scaled back and eliminated BluRay from the requirement to get within budget, since sound quality is paramount.
An alternative would be to get a preamp/processor to provide high quality analog stereo outputs downmixed from HDMI inputs, and get a cheap universal player as a transport. If I had multiple HDMI inputs, I could also connect my Roku Streaming Stick +. Roku is currently connected to the TV, whose stereo analog out is probably not very hifi. Maybe I am better off getting a preamp/processor so I can play BluRay from a cheap universal transport, even if that means I have to bump up the budget by $50-100. I just don’t know the preamp market at all yet. Thoughts?
For DVD players, I have read people praising the following:
Oppo DV-980H
Denon DVD-2910, DVD-3910, DVD-2930ci, DVD-3930ci
What would you recommend?
FYI, my system is described in my profile.
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- 19 posts total
My first SACD player was an Oppo DV 980H. I paid $86 and it hooked me on SACD/DVD/HDCD players. I also discovered that quite a few of my "CDs" were also HDCD encoded, if that's the right word. I upgraded to a BDP-95 for $450 and it was a nice step forward. I think this is probably the sweet spot for Oppos in terms of bang for the buck. You could take a flyer and offer this guy as much as you are comfortable with. https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lis9hh3h-oppo-bdp-95-blu-ray-dvd-universal-players?refsource=hifishark I think there is some advantage to getting a player without Blu-ray if you don't need it, as there are no compromises in audio playback. I was lucky to find a DV-983H for $117 and I have that in my "little" system. It's very good; but they don't come up for sale often. I've not heard the Sony or Yamaha; but in my main system I currently have an EVS modded BDP-105, $1,350 used, and an Ayre C5xeMP, $2,100 used. Honestly, I can't say that the Ayre is that much better sounding to my ears. The other advantage the Oppos have is that they have USB inputs. I download music from Soundike.com for about $1.75/ album in MP3, 320 onto thumb drives. It's cheap and sounds very good for the money when I can't find SACDs or LPs of music I want, or don't want to spend the money for even a CD. However, you really do need a video display to navigate. So bottom line, I think you will be very happy with the best Oppo you can afford. Except for the BDP-83SE, the models ending in a 3 are optimized for video and those ending in a 0 or 5 for audio. Happy hunting. |
- 19 posts total