Philips 1000 vs 963 for 2 channel. Which one ?

I would like to know too!!

The sacd 1000 is much heavy, due to a thick bottom metal plate and the torroidal power supply, but that is it's only perceived advantage built quality wise. The 963's face plate looks nicer, with cool blue leds and not so el cheapo buttons[hard to belive that philips had the gutts to ask 2000 bucks for a machine built like this one]. The cd tray in sacd 1000 belongs in a 40 bucks craposonic cdp...the one in 963 without being a miracle of precision is an improvement. Sacd 1000's transport made a lot of strangely grinding noises, including a loud click every 2-3s on cd and sacd playback [ not normal, repaired by philips] while the 963 has a fait click on cd play...

sound wise: At sacd playback, the 1000 wins not by a large margin as it had a touch more air, better bass and a relaxing laid back presentation.For redbooks cds, the 963 is quite better as it sounds richer and less digital, mostly on new records where its upsamplig [ absent on sacd 1000] makes a difference. If you need just a sacd, try the 1000, but as a hybrid player, I'll take the 963-available for $360 NIB. You did not ask, but the 963 is a superior dvd player also. Both players had Virtual Dynamics cryoed PC and were somehow broken in_963 has 50 hours, 1000 way more.

thanks for the comeback. are there any onther caveats on the 1000 that one should be aware of ?

thank!!!!

mike