2. best-of
  3. 1163118870

SACD King under $7500

What is currently considered the best SACD player under $7500. The candidates that come to mind:

Ayre C-5xe ($5950)
Cary 306 SACD ($6000)
Krell SACD Standard ($4000)
Wadia 581 ($6950)
Marantz SA-7S1 ($6999)
Marantz SA-11S1 ($3499)
Esoteric X-03 ($7500)
Musical Fidelity kW sacd ($7500)

And, of course, two retired candidates:

Sony SCD-1
Marantz SA-1

Is there anything obvious I'm missing? I understand that the SA-11S1 can't win since the SA-7S1 is clearly going to be better, but since almost nobody has heard the 7 and many have heard the 11, I figured I'd leave it in.

Only two channel, audio performance (Redback and SACD) should be taken into account. Thoughts? (Rankings, Tiers, etc?)
seacard
rolloff
130 posts
 
Tvad,
Too late, I already have a vinyl rig. It works wonderfully. Your thread exists elsewhere. I also own many CD's and SACD's. They're not dead. I'm upgrading my player, when I get some useful input.
Post removed 
rcprince
3,077 posts
 
I have heard both the Cary and the Marantz SA11 S1, as well as the Sony and a modified Sony SCD 777ES (mine for many years). I would say that they're all very good, but have their own particular sound that you may or may not prefer. I found the Cary particularly excelled, especially compared to my Sony, in transient response, and I liked the tonal balnce of the Marantz, which seemed a little fuller than the Cary and more like my player. I think a fully-modded Sony should be something to consider, as well as an APL modded Denon (I don't know the price). The only thing that I've heard that substantially outperformed my modified Sony has been the EMM Labs CDSD/DAC2SE combo (which I broke down and bought); if you can stretch your budget to get it, the EMM Labs single box player might be worth getting, if it's anything close to its two-box sibling.
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