I am using a McIntosh 4100 receiver with a pair of Martin Logan Sequel2
speakers and want a universal player that can do mp3, dvd,sacd and cd. The
pioneer DV-575A recommended recently is apparently no longer being produced
but has been replaced by the 578A-S model. Any disadvantage to this newer
model? Also, does anyone have experience with the Sony DVP-NS50P/S unit?
Are there any slightly higher priced units that will offer a bigger bang for
the buck?

After listening to many high end universal players, I came to the sad
conclusion that the time is not right yet to purchase a serious one and
got a DVD HD841 Samsung. In my opinion, none of the players which I
sampled had a good enough DAC section to equal my Benchmark outboard
DAC when used with CD's. I am sure the Samsung can be bettered, but
whether it can be bettered by enough to justify the price amortized
in the short term until the next generation of players comes out is
questionable.

"artlandy" wrote in message
...
I am using a McIntosh 4100 receiver with a pair of Martin Logan Sequel2
speakers and want a universal player that can do mp3, dvd,sacd and cd.
The
pioneer DV-575A recommended recently is apparently no longer being
produced
but has been replaced by the 578A-S model. Any disadvantage to this newer
model? Also, does anyone have experience with the Sony DVP-NS50P/S unit?
Are there any slightly higher priced units that will offer a bigger bang
for
the buck?


It is extremely good value for the money, and does DVD-A very well, once
broken in. It does CD and SACD less well. SACD is converted to PCM and
loses transparency to some degree. CD for some reason sounds a slight bit
closed in and "tubby" whereas the DVD-Audio sounds superb...go figure.

The new Marantz 7600 is considered to be an outstanding sonic performer at
the $1000 price point. Sony has a CD and SACD changer out for only $139 and
their units generally sound quite good for both CD and SACD. And their
latest units usually do MP3 and WMA as well. Some like the mid range
Denons, although I do not. NAD has a new universal just coming out...know
nothing of it.

artlandy wrote:
I am using a McIntosh 4100 receiver with a pair of Martin Logan Sequel2
speakers and want a universal player that can do mp3, dvd,sacd and cd. The
pioneer DV-575A recommended recently is apparently no longer being produced

The Pioneer DV-575A is last year's European model. It has been replaced
by the Pioneer DV-585A.

but has been replaced by the 578A-S model.

The Pioneer DV-578A is last year's American model. It has been replaced
by the Pioneer DV-588A.

BTW, the last letter (-S or -K) means the colour (S=Silver, K=Black).

Any disadvantage to this newer
model? Also, does anyone have experience with the Sony DVP-NS50P/S unit?

It doesn't support DVD-Audio (unsurprisingly, since Sony is behind SACD)
and not even SACD:

http://www.jvb.nl/jvb.asp?cur=1&leve...le&title=28 5

Are there any slightly higher priced units that will offer a bigger
bang for the buck?

The Yamaha DVD-S657 (which has the advantage that it should be easier to
region-unlock) is not available in the USA, I think. So the only other
reasonably priced universal players that I remember are the Samsungs.
These have the advantage of having digital video output (DVI or HDMI):

Samsung DVD-HD941 (HDMI) ($139.94):
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg.../-/B0001H4BZC/

Samsung DVD-HD841 (DVI) ($89.88):
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg.../-/B0001H4BMU/



I have just remembered that Toshiba also sells universal players:

Toshiba SD-6980 Single-disc DVD/CD/SACD/DVD-Audio player

Toshiba SD-4960 Single-disc

Toshiba SD-6915 5-Disc Progressive-Scan DVD Player

--
http://www.mat.uc.pt/~rps/

..pt is Portugal| `Whom the gods love die young'-Menander (342-292 BC)
Europe | Villeneuve 50-82, Toivonen 56-86, Senna 60-94

Bret Ludwig wrote:
After listening to many high end universal players, I came to the sad
conclusion that the time is not right yet to purchase a serious one and
got a DVD HD841 Samsung. In my opinion, none of the players which I
sampled had a good enough DAC section to equal my Benchmark outboard
DAC when used with CD's. I am sure the Samsung can be bettered, but
whether it can be bettered by enough to justify the price amortized
in the short term until the next generation of players comes out is
questionable.


I did the same. On a lark, I decided to spend some $$$ and get a
modified HD841 too. I should have done the mods myself, but I'm just
not that great with soldering small parts onto a pc board anymore and I
guess I've just gotten lazy. There are a number of enhancements to the
power supply (mostly fancy caps) and output stages, the RCA jacks were
replaced with WBT parts, the rectifier diodes are replaced with quality
parts, the cheesy op amps are bypassed on the output stage, the clock is
replaced with a superclock3 from Audiocom...etc. So it winds up costing
about $800, all in. Does it sound better? Yeah. Does it sound FIVE
times better than the vanilla $175 unit? Nope. I tested both the
digital out (TOSlink and coax) with an outboard DAC as well as analog
out. It definitely sounds different than the stock unit (I've got an
unaltered version on another input) and I can reliably pick which source
is in use. To my ears, the modified transport sounds more transparent,
especially on the highs. If you've got the jingle burning a hole in
your pocket, it's definitely an improvement, but don't think it's going
to be a life altering change in your listening experience. 8-)

Also, for the money, the HD841 is the absolute best player out there
these days. It does video well (including upscaling to 480p/720p/1080i
using the DVI output) and also supports SACD and DVD/A for folks that
care about that kind of thing. I used it mostly for theater and
2-channel audio use.

Cheers,

On 30 Aug 2005 03:41:27 GMT, Ritz wrote:

Bret Ludwig wrote:
After listening to many high end universal players, I came to the sad
conclusion that the time is not right yet to purchase a serious one and
got a DVD HD841 Samsung. In my opinion, none of the players which I
sampled had a good enough DAC section to equal my Benchmark outboard
DAC when used with CD's. I am sure the Samsung can be bettered, but
whether it can be bettered by enough to justify the price amortized
in the short term until the next generation of players comes out is
questionable.

Well yes. Undoubtedly the Benchmark is as close the the technical
state of the art as you're going to find at any price, but it's highly
uncertain that it's *audibly* superior to a good modern player.

Also, for the money, the HD841 is the absolute best player out there
these days. It does video well (including upscaling to 480p/720p/1080i
using the DVI output) and also supports SACD and DVD/A for folks that
care about that kind of thing. I used it mostly for theater and
2-channel audio use.

Well, that might have been true a few weeks back, but I've just
purchased the latest Samsung HD-850 which upscales DVD to the 1366x768
of my new Samsung LCD TV via HDMI. Sound quality seems identical to
that of my Pioneer DV-575 and my Sony CD-715E. hence definitely
recommendable for the silly £89 price. It doesn't do SACD or DVD-A,
but its big brother the HD-950 does if that matters to you.
--

Stewart Pinkerton | Music is Art - Audio is Engineering