Cheap SACD Player?

What is your cheap budget? $100? $350? $???

I wouldn't waste your time with Sony C333ES - go with an XA777ES or above if you can - they are very reasonable in price used and sound terrific.

All the new DSD recordings sound great. Some of the old remasters aren't worth it as they sound about as good as Redbook, but SACD is superior to Redbook. The only ones that debate this are the ones that don't want to get into it and try to justify it by making themselves believe it's not better - Judge for yourself.

If you are planning to plunk down a bunch on a high-end system down the line, you might want to look at entry level Pioneer DV-588A or a Yamaha DV-6XXX Series. The Pioneer and some of the Yamaha models can also play DVD-Audio discs. These are fairly decent players for the money.

Check out Sony's DVP-NC685V. This got a rave review in Stereophile for it's SACD playback. I have two, and love them. These units will play all current formats. Check out Ebay (urgh!) and you can get them for about $120! There is also an added benefit of a 5-disc changer.

Depending on your budget, the C333ES is a very good value. It sounds decent on redbook and very good with the right SACD's. As indicated above, all SACD's are not created equal. I have a C333ES, an SCD 777ES and an SCD1 - while the 333 is not in the league of the other two, they can be purchased here on Audiogon for a very reasonable price. Due to space constraints, I'm only keeping two players, and the 333 is one of them (there's a certain convenience in that you can put in 5 CD's and just let it play). Although it is a great sounding unit, the 777 is the 'odd man out' for me.