Getting into SACD

IMO, lower priced SACD players do not do redbook as well as dedicated players near the same price. I have owned the Sony 9000, 5400 and the Esoteric X-05 and found this to be true in all three cases. Perhaps the more expensive players like the Esoteric X-03 and up do better, but I have no experience with them. I finally gave up on SACD and went with a better redbook player and found this to be a more satisfactory solution for my tastes. IMO, a better redbook player playing a standard CD sounds better than a lesser SACD player playing the SACD of the same recording. But again, that's just me.

Thanks for the input. If that's the case, I will forget about adding SACD capability and upgrade my current streaming hardware/software.

The TEAC PD-H600 was considered by Absolute Sound to be one of the best CDPs under $2K at the beginning of this year even though you couldn't source one anymore. I own one and it's a great CDP for the money, but for $1600 (demo price) the Marants SA-15S2b betters it by a big margin insofar as Redbook is concerned and plays SACD as well.

It's all about how it sounds in your system.

All the best,
Nonoise

Your Arcam is pretty tough to beat!