SONY still makes SACD Player?- Any 5400ES update?

Good thread. One point I'd like to make on this. While the Marantz SA8004 is a fantastic unit with many accolades and actually just got named "Source of the Year" in Jan 2012 issue of TAS, it only plays stereo SACDs and not multi-channel. That greatly limits the dynamic perfomance you can get out of SACDs. Many if not most SACDs are mastered in mult-channel format. Take it from me, when played over a 5.1 surround sound audio system or higher, there is no comparison to an SACD in just two channel stereo. I have both and have first hand experience with this. I still can't understand why Marantz produces this unit in just two channel SACD output. They have made other players in both. The Oppo 95 has multi-channel SACD output. So just be aware.

You'll find their Bluray players support SACD. Maybe they're abandoning the audio only SACD players.

That's an excellent point, Pdn. I only listen to two channel and hadn't even considered that limitation of the Marantz. Jnsluft, I did not know that their blu ray players supported SACD, but I had only meant to say that Sony does not seem to be doing much in support of the format and does not seem heavily invested in its propagation anymore. However, I'm willing to concede I may even be wrong about that.

Unfortunately, I agree with Rok2id and Chayro that Sony's 15 minutes of fame is over! For decades, I only considered Sony when it came to buying TVs. Their CD players were always top-rated and affordable compared to their competition (remember the SCD-1, 9000ES). Now they outsource many key parts for their TVs and I don't know that they even produce CD/SACD players other than for video. It started downhill with poor service and lack of available parts for repairs, now they are merely an also-ran for anything. Samsung has taken their place for TVs, and Oppo seems to be everyone's choice for audio/video at a reasonable price. Really a shame!

Hi, thanks for your posts. I'm using a very modest and old Philips CD player and am considering getting a solid/good quality SACD/CD player for a 2-channel system.

Pdn, I don't understand the difference between the 2 channel and 5.1 channel output capability for a SACD player since I only intend to use it in a 2-channel hifi system. Did you mean even in a 2 channel system, the 5.1 channel output has the advantage? How does it work?

Thanks.