How good is the Philips 963SA as CD transport?

I thoroghly enjoy my 963SA. I purchased it at Goodguys for $99.00!!!! It was a demo without cables and instructions. I have my own cables at home and pulled the instructions off of the Philips website.

IMO, its not all that good as a transport.
A friend and I, who both owned 963sa's, put one of them up against an old transport that he has (a parasound he paid less used for it than a new 963 costs). It wont play most CD-Rs we put in it...so its got to be more than a few years old.

We were running into a Benchmark DAC-1...which touts such jitter correction claims that they say the transport doesnt' matter as much.
well, we could easily hear a difference in the presentation. the Philips was grainy, a tad bright and nowhere near as smooth and musical as the old redbook tranpsort we had to test with.

I've got a Vinnie MOD Toshiba 3960 DVD transport now. dampening and power supply mods. its pretty smooth, but I have not put it up against the one remaining 963sa that he still has. I would venture to guess that it will sound better than the philips.

i'm sorry to be the only guy here who says "it ain't all that...."
I"m looking for a new DVD tranpsort too. Imleaning towards an older Sony DVP model as i'm convinced these little lightweight players are crap transports due to their flimsy construction.

They are not very reliable for sure. With digital and power mods however, the output is virtually jitter-free. I've seen it on a scope. However, the DVD laser makes the thing sound a bit clinical compared to a Sony or a Pioneer, even though they have more jitter.