Absolute Best DVD Player?

Hi Talmage3, it was a IkonMkII. It was a close call between the two but the Sony seemed to be a little smoother with better mids, while the Cal had a little more bottom end to it.

Treed, I would be curious to know what you think of the Camelot's picture when compared to the 9000ES. I know that the Sony can't handle difficult discs as well, but I wonder how it differs with a good quality anamorhic DVD?

Must be gettin tird, one to many typos tday.

As I said, I haven't even hooked up the Sony. It has been my experience that the differences between all of the top-of-the-line DVD players ( Toshiba,Pioneer,Sony,Etc.), when playing a high quality DVD are slight at best. There will be some slight differences in sharpnees and color, but the differences will be small. The big differences show up when you are playing a difficult transfer or an older film. That's when you can really tell the difference. Of course, the better your display, the bigger the difference.
So many people are happy with the video performance of the Sony, that I feel certain that 90 percent of the time it would be hard to tell the difference between the Sony and the Round Table. It's that other 10 percent that I bought the Round Table for. Even the most critical viewer could not knock the Round Table for anything! It's hard to find anything in audio or video that you can say that about. If it played SACD's the Sony would be listed on AudiogoN.

Ayre DVD-1. Awesome unit but potentially (actually definitely but in glorious fashion) breaks the budget depending on installed options. Rick you're question is a tricky one. From what I've seen it is a matter of trade offs. For really good sound the Cal Audio units are fantastic, but in terms of DVD they are behind many of the competitors in terms of latest generation enhancements. Same holds true for the Opposite. The really good DVD players like the Sony run cirles around the Cal in terms of video but can't and will never touch the Cal in terms of sound quality. Just two different beasts. You will have to decide based on the rest of your system. Do you have a high end 2 channel set-up? If yes, you might consider the Cal 2500. If you are really in the home theater camp and want to get the most out of a HDTV, then go with the Sony or Pioneer DV-05. All three reommendations will come in way under your budget. If you really want to spend some bucks and own the best check out the Ayre. My real suggestion is to wait a little longer. In the next 2 years (if you can hold out with your VCR that long) there will be a whole new generation of players that include DVD-A, SACD, etc and the format war may be little clearer.