pitchman

I began dabbling in hi-res audio a few months ago and had pretty much committed to the DVD-A format, but after going through 3 different Panasonic DVD-F85's that all failed in some way after a brief period of time, I decided to switch brands. I had previously auditioned a Pioneer 563A and was disappointed with its somewhat lackluster video performance. I ended up migrating to a Sony DVP-NC685V, and what a pleasant surprise this player turned out to be!

The 685V is a 5-disc DVD/SACD changer that, to be honest, I knew very little about. Feature wise, it has just about everything that comes standard in this generation of comparable players. The only noticeable omission for some might be a zoom function. Since I never used it on the Panny or 563A, it is a non-factor for me.

From a performance standpoint, the NC685V is surprisingly robust. CD's sound fantastic and the few SACD discs that I have just knocked my socks off! Dark Side of the Moon which sounded good on the 563A, sounds totally amazing now! In fact, much better than any of the DVD-A's I played on the F85S. Even the 2-channel Rolling Stones, Their Satanic Majesty's Request, which sounded awful on the Pioneer, sounds great on the Sony, with deep, rich bass and excellent tonal quality throughout.

So, what's the difference? My guess is that it is Sony's implementation of bass management. Although the F85S and 563A reportedly have bass management, you could never prove it by me. Whenever I used either player's on screen speaker setup menu, test signal would simply bypass the subwoofer and no sound came from the sub. After calling Panasonic, I decided that it had more to do with my receiver (a Panasonic SA-HE100) than either player.

Well, with the NC685V, using either (there are two) speaker setup menues, I hear test signal a plenty from the subwoofer. The player allows you to independently set speakers for either SACD or DVD/CD playback, providing full separate control over each function.

As far as video performance goes, to my eye, the NC-685V is head and shoulders above the Pioneer and a bit softer (although considerably more film-like, which is typical for a Sony player) than the Panny. Layer changes are slightly slower than the 563A and about on par with the F85S, but they go by smoother than on the DVD-F85S.

In the end, if you are looking for a great sounding hi-res player (and don't want to shell out for an ICBM) with good video performance and a changer function to boot, you may want to consider the Sony DVP-NC685V. Is it a universal player? No. Does it look and sound great? You better believe it.

BTW, I traded in the handful of DVD-A discs I had for a copy of the Alias season 1 box set and Dylan's, Blonde on Blonde hybrid; so, I guess there's no going back now...

John Robert

Gary:

I too am hooked on SACD sound, although my comparative reference is CD as I don't have a DVD-A player. The difference through my system (Infinity Intermezzos) is beyond night and day. SACDs are more dynamic, tighter bass, quieter backgrond, bigger soundstage, etc.

I am looking to upgrade my older Sony ncv650p and was looking at the 685V. What kind of BM does it have???

David Judah

IMO, DVD-A & SACD are about equal at their best. Alot depends on how they are prepared, and I'm sure, how well they were done originally. For example, the Boston SACD I have is better than Red Book, but not as spectacular as some of my other SACDs. My DVD-A of Fleetwood Mac's Rumors, made around the same time as the Boston SACD, is quite a bit more detailed in the upper frquencies.

Of course, it's hard to make apples and oranges comparisons and form an opinion of overall format quality, but there are some stunning examples of high fidelity recordings in both formats.

I'm glad you like your Sony, Gary. They do make some great players. Having one hi-rez format is better than not having any, but down the road when you replace the Sony, you might consider a universal player, so you can have access to even more hi-rez titles.

DJ

Lecktor: Then how did you catch me?
Graham: You had disadvantages.
Lecktor: What disadvantages?
Graham: You\'re insane.

ReggieW

David is correct. people are just going to have to accept that the diffeences we're hearing are not necessarily in the formats themselves, but rather the quality of the source material and your own components. I have a Denon 2900 which plays both formats VERY WELL, and there are discs from both camps that both excite and disappoint. Both DSD and PCM have their pro's and con's and you will find many adherents of both on these boards, but for me, it's strictly about the music. I am currently listening to the new Prokofiev DVD-A from NAXOS of the Alexander Nevsky score and it is only 24/48 in surround. The soundstage is wide and it is sonically very dynamic - just as dynamic as any SACD I've heard despite the lower than usual sample rate (most surround mixes are 24/96). Otoh, I have the Naxos Holst "Planets" DVD-A with the same sample rate as the Prokofiev, and sonically it is a major disappointment. Now both performances are roughly around the same age (2001-02), but one is markedly superior than the other. The mix on the Holst is just plain bad and the soundstage flat probably due to inept mastering (I also have a Chesky SACD of this as well which isn't much better). The concert hall in which they were recorded may've had something to do with the end result as well. My point is: if anyone trumpets superiority of one format over the other because of yje sonics of the respective formats, then their jiving you. The reality is both are very capable of optimal dynamic range.

Reg

David_D

I'm glad to see some discussion of the Sony 685 player. I've been wavering between several models, but things seem to be zeroing in on either the Pioneer 563 or Sony 685. Imagine my pleasure when I see a thread that discusses both.

I'm glad to hear the comparison of SACD performance between the two units. Have any others observed similar results?

To add some other variables to the discussion... How are these units at handling scratched discs? Also, how hot do they run when operating for an extended time (movie length or more.) I've seen some units in stores that are almost too hot to touch. That can't be good for the discs.

I'm still using a couple of ancient (one really ancient) Toshiba players. Neither has ever missed a beat Any reliability impressions of these two players? Of course, at this point, the best we can do is guess.

Robert AG

It is nice to see some common sense in this thread! As someone who's job includes mixing and mastereing multi-channel music, I can without doubt affirm that the sound quality of SACD / DVD-A or even CD is indeed 99.9999999999% in the original recording, the mixing and the mastering. These formats ALL can be transparent to whatever is thrown at them.

I have a CD I prepared in which I took the first cut from the 20 bit reissue CD of "Kind of Blue" by Miles Davis and took sections and reduced these to 12 bits and others to 8 bits (!). This was done carefully, using the best noise-shaped dither techniques. I re-assembled these sections into a continuous whole where the bit-depth changes at random between 16 bit original, 12 bit reduced, and 8 bit reduced.

Guess what? I have played this CD for literally dozens of people, and most of them cannot reliably identify even the 8 bit sections !!!! Nobody could tell at all the difference reliably between the 12 bit and 16 bit.

So much for "Hi-Resolution"!!

That being said, I always record at the highest bit rate and sample rate I can as it only makes sense - hard disc space is cheap. Keepping the digital data at 24 bits makes subsequent signal manuipulation less destructive than doing this on 16 bits, where rounding errors would start to add up.

John Robert

Gary:

Any feedback on the BM capabilities of the 685???

Thomas_Riel

I am also in the market for a multi disc SACD player and tossing around a couple of units. Anybody know how the Sony DVP-NC685V would compare to the Sony SCD-C222ES as far as SACD playback?

Thanks........... Tom

Phil_La

I've been planning a new HT setup for a few months now, and the only thing I haven't completly decided on now is the DVD/SACD player. I should finally be buying everything in 2 or 3 days now and I don't know which to get:

Sony DVP-NC685V
Philips DVD795SA

Both are 5-disc DVD/SACD changers, and I can't find many reviews on either of them. I'm glad someone (Gary) is happy with the Sony.

One question:

At J&R, it lists these features:

on the Philips DVD795SA: Upsamples CD audio to 192kHz / 24-bit performance
on the Sony DVP-NC685V: 192kHz 24-bit Audio D/A Converter

is that the same thing, just worded differently?

ReggieW

Thomas,

I have never heard the 685 so i couldn't objectively comment on its performance, but I do have the 222es. It is an excellent component for redbook Cd's and SACD's. The 685 is NOT an ES component (something to keep in mind) and also doubles as a DVD player. If I strictly wanted an audio player, I'd go with the 222es in a heartbeat, plus you get a five year warranty along with better build quality and more than likely better sonics. Sony ES players are generally built to a higher level of quality than the regular run of the mill Best Buy Sony equipment. The 222es has two power supplies, gold output plugs, good separation of digital and analog section, etc; I doubt that the 685 is much different internally than Sony's other non-ES components.

Good luck,

Reg