DVD Player - Which one plays Audio CD's BEST? (1 Viewer)

[Bill Johnston]

Ok, I definatly am going to be picking up a DVD player really soon... I don't want to spend much more than $300ish... so, what are my options... I plan on moving my current stack load to the basement so this DVD player must play Audio CD's good...

Panasonic?

Toshiba?

Kenwood?

Onkyo?

Thanks Guys!!!

Bill

 

[Bobby T]

Sony DVPNS500 also plays SACD $300

Toshiba 4700 also plays DVD audio $250

 

[Thomas_Berg]

go either Panasonic RP56 ($225 at Best Buy) or Toshiba SD4700 (~$250). both units are progressive scan, and the Tosh also has DVD-A for your later pleasure. you likely wont notice a difference (regarding CD playback) with either of them as they are both good components.

i wouldnt go with that Sony DVD/SACD player b/c it sacrifices quality in both areas to support both formats.

 

[RAF]

i wouldnt go with that Sony DVD/SACD player b/c it sacrifices quality in both areas to support both formats.

Huh? Can you explain this?

Thanks.

 

[Andrew Pratt]

thomas have you tried the sony to see how bad it is? The Sony 9000ES also does SACD and DVD and I don't see many complaining about its quality (other then the ever popular chroma issue)

My two picks would be either the Sony NS500V or the Technics DVD-A player (AX10?)

 

[John Morris]

I'll throw my 2c into this thread.

IMO, the audio performance of the $1K 9K and the cheap Sony SACD units are not comparable. I would not get the cheap sony unit JUST because it supports SACD playback. That said, for $300 some decisions have to be made as to what is most important for you such as:

progressive scan video?

good interlaced DVD playback and nice CD playback?

SACD or DVD audio capability?

CD-r and CD/RW playback?

Without knowing this, a recommendation is tough. Still, if I was looking to buy a nice DVD player that also is a very nice CD player, I'd look at either a new refurbished Denon 3700(Burr Brown DACs which sound like DCM-370) or the new Denon DVD-800(Sigma Delta DACs which sound like DCM-470) units. Otherwise, in this price range, I haven't listened to any other units so I cannot comment on them.

 

[Mike Witt]

If you put any stock in David Ranada from Sound & Vision magazine, the JVC XV-S60 DVD-Video Player (or any of the new JVCs I would expect) should be considered. Here's a quote from S&V:

"Sound & Vision technical editor David Ranada found that the JVC came “extremely close to theoretical perfection in noise and distortion levels” playing standard audio CDs, making it as good a choice for music listening as for watching movies."

 

[Marvin]

Another thing to consider is whether you'll be using the DAC in your receiver (i.e. will you be connecting it via the digitial output on your DVD player) or if you'll be using the DVD player's DAC (i.e. using the analog output). If you use the receiver's DAC, then there *might* not be that much of a difference no matter which DVD player you use to play your CDs (within a similar price range anyway).

Something else to consider is whether or not you have any CD-Rs. Not all DVD players will play them.