Dumb Question


Recently I have been playing and buying more SACD.s than CD because I think they sound better. I am using an Oppo 205 to play the SACD’s and would like to up-grade from the 205, which was only a $1300.00 player when I bought it. It seems like Esoteric keeps coming up as one of the better SACD players, however at pricing which starts at $12,000 for their lower line player. Will their players be an up-grade over the Oppo and which model do you recommend. I am big into streaming as well,  but think the SACD is superb. Thanks for any feedback. Sam

128x128samgar2

@ghdprentice +1! Spending many thousands for an SACD player is a waste of money. The streamer/DAC combination is way more cost effective. Myself, I just ordered a Samsung DVD-HD841 from eBay. Plays SACD's and DVD A's plus of course CD's. Used and a bargain at $16 including tax and shipping! 

I already have a Sony CD/SACD changer and a Sony Blue Ray Universal player. Optical disk playback has been a mature technology for at least twenty years. Nothing new under the sun! I doubt that in a blind test an Oppo and a Samsung can be told apart!

Sam,

Many other forums sing the praises of Esoteric SACD players. For under $1500 new Marantz, Denon, and Yamaha SACD players get a lots of positive feedback.

I will repeat advice that I have offered elsewhere.  I use an Oppo 105 and I also prefer SACDs.  I use a DAC with HDMI inputs (Bryston DAC3, there are others) and output the DSD layer of the SACDs into the DAC.  The DAC runs about 4K now.