Which makes more sense? - CD player vs SACD

Shakey,

Just want to clarify, I was in the hobby 14 years ago when I had a collection of about 70 CDs. Then, I switched my interests to photography and RC planes for many years.

Now that I have a much bigger house, I'm coming back to hifi at a 'full force' :)

I bought a pair of Harbeth P7ES3 and am using an old Philips CD player and a Yamaha receiver as amp for now.

I'll gradually build up my hifi system. Next would be pre/power amp and a CD or SACD player.

Is the SACD more expensive than CD? How about getting into LPs? Am I jumping too far ahead?

Thanks,

+1 on the Rega system. I'd use the Harbeth and just add the Rega Brio R and Rega Dac. Plug your legacy player into the DAC until you decide if you really want to do more listening to CDs or if you want an SACD player, and then get the new Apollo. Decide later if you want RP1 or RP3 turntable. I had the Brio 3/Apollo combo and it was great. I also understand the Exposure 2010 line goes well with Harbeth and you could also get matching components from them. I don't know if either of these lines is"full force" enough, but both should provide a lot of satisfying listening experiences. Creek is another option. If you can find dealers in your area for any of the lines, you can audition them as see which you prefer.

It really depends on your budget.

I think on one extreme, the no compromise SACD players would play CDs just as well as a standalone unit of comparable price but sound even better with SACDs. Think Playback Designs, EMM Labs and dCS.

But on a low end, you could find a dedicated CD only player sound better than a combo SACD/CD player of the same price.

If your budget can stretch to an Oppo 95 and you have plans eventually for a multichannel system, that's the unit I would get first.

I think a good 5.1 track is tremendously great fun not just for SACDs but DVDAs and also BR titles, plus you get to buy some DVD Audio discs for a reasonable price than some OOP SACD titles. Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here has just been released on BR and SACD.

While I have a stereo only SACD player (XDS1), there are times when the 5.1 tracks just sound more enveloping.

Just be prepared to spend on many OOP titles as well as Japanese only pressings (not that cheap). Hoping to get my Oscar Peterson Trio SHM SACDs and Tubular Bells before Christmas! :)

I second Cmalak on the Marantz SA8004. It sounds excellent for SACD, CD, and streaming Logitech Touch FLAC. It is the digital swiss army knife. I have found no shortcomings with it sonically speaking. I can't wait until I can get a chance to listen more! I have not felt that way about my system in a long long time.

I have about 40 SACD's for now. I was in to the music sever thing for a long time...never seemed right to me, despite several dacs, mac mini, etc...just way to much fussing around. I still use the touch but SACD and redbook sounds so right I can't pull myself away.

sACD is not moribund. I have been buying quite a few classical and jazz pieces, and there is rock available. I find the sacd layer to be superior to or equal to the cd layer on hybrid disks, and many high end dealers will use sacd or hi rez digital for demos.

As for vinyl you will have to pay several times the price of the marantz or oppo unit that have been reccomended. I find it hard to justify both sources if you are just getting back into this hobby. For the 5g's plus you will spend on a TT, arm, cartridge and phono pre, you can buy a lot of music!