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Stereophile's A+ vs A rating leaves a question

Looking at the Oct 01 Stereophiles Recommended Components CD players leaves me scratching my head. I'm only slightly interested in SACD and am about to upgrade to a new, and probably last CD player (96 or 192KHz sampling)

The question arises in that Stereophile's A+ rating states that the rating only applies to SACD performance and not to red book CD performance. So if one is first interested in standard CD performance and wouldn't mind having SACD capability the ratings are useless.

I am currently considering the Sony SC DXA 777ES, Muse 190, Meridian 588/508.24, Cary 306/200. A real zoo isn't it.
keis
s2k_dude
78 posts
 
i can only speak for the 508.24, which was awesoime while i had it. i sold it for the $$$ but now have regrets for doing so. it's a very musical player yet has great detail nonetheless. the bass response rocks too.

as for the others, i have heard great things about the 306 and notso great things about the 777es and muse. go for the meridian or cary.
fatparrot
1,314 posts
 
If you're interested in Red Book only, the Audio Aero Capitole was the CD player that captured the hearts (and ears)of many, myself included, at the Las Vegas C.E.S./The EXPO shows. Great upsampling makes this unit sound very analog like. The usual telltale digital artifacts on the strings was totally absent (to my ears). Also, this unit can be used as a DVD-A converter with a digital input. A very sweet unit! Check it out at www.globeaudiomkt.com. Sorry, but due to the controversies surrounding SACD, the limited releases, and mercenary prices for software, I'm just going to wait before investing in SACD format! Happy Tunes
garfish
1,840 posts
 
Stereophile's rating system for any component is just the opinion of a few (at most) reviewers-- nothing more and nothing less. I discovered long ago not to get hung up on their ratings.

I heard SACD via the Sony 777ES (in a good system) recently and was not particularly impressed. The music was classical-- the owner (a friend) said the SACDs were more "analog" like. But I could not hear that and much prefer my Levinson M37 transport and 360S DAC. On CDs the 777ES was OK but not great. I agree with Fatparrot in that SACD is not much of format at all due to lack of software.

I can recommend the Levinson 39 as an excellent CD player, with the 37/360S combo being only slightly better. Good Luck and Cheers. Craig
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