Buy a DAC or buy an SACD player?

Before getting my Bel Canto DAC 1.1, I came VERY close to getting the Sony SCD777ES. All I had to do was to walk across the street to the Sony Employee Store and place the order. It would have only been $1301 brand new.

What ultimately swayed me was the number of redbook CDs in my collection and the lack of SACD titles I actually wanted which were available at the time. Getting the DAC exposed the weaknesses of my CD player/transport, so I upgraded that too. I haven't regretted my decision for one second.

Even though I love my Bel Canto, I strongly agree that the EVS Millenium DAC should be looked at as well.

Have fun and good luck!

Invest in a good DAC. I recently purchased one of the new Chord DAC 64s from my local dealer for about $3000. Connected to my Arcam DV88 it comes so close to a $12,000 Linn CD 12 that I ditched my Ikemi. It will be years before there is enough SACD material available.

I had a good DAC and sold it then bought a good high-end CD player. I have no interest in SACD (for now) since like you, I own nearly 500 regular CD's and a lot of what I like isn't even available on SACD - plus SACD titles cost more.

My logic may be backwards to some but in my opinion it makes more sense to have a very good high-end CD player and just buy a dirt cheap SACD player a little later if you want to experiment SACD players keep coming down in price and used ones keep showing up for even less every day. When a $300 SACD player is available and sounds better than regular CD, I may buy one just for grins.