Megachanger questions (1 Viewer)

[Philip_T]

My old Pioneer 6-disc magazine cd changer is dying and I'm in the market for a replacement.

I've researched some threads here that have answered some of my questions, but a few linger. I'm looking for a megachanger that is SACD capable and would prefer 400 disc capacity. DVD play is not important as I have a decent DVD single tray player (Denon 1600) that I play my movies and DVD-A's through and I don't want to put my dvd's in a megachanger. It would primarily be used for cd's and SACD's which brings up another question. Since I use the analog channel outputs of the Denon for DVD-A playback, and I only have one set of external inputs on my receiver, would I be out of luck hooking up the analog external outputs from the megachanger for SACD playback? If so, will the digital output be near the quality of the separate analog channel hookups? I don't have any SACD's as of yet, so I have never been able to test the difference myself, but I prefer the analog hookups on DVD-A's.

It appears that most megachangers will accept a keyboard for cataloging which is nice. Other features that I think would be nice for a megachanger would be:
1)Ability to hookup to my computer to automatically build the catalog.
2)I think in most megachangers, you are able to create folders and label them by say, genre's. But lets say Im in the mood to listen to Discs #7, 63, 90, 234 and 317, but they are all in different folders. Is there a player out there that will allow you to pick discs from different folders and randomize play between them?
3)Say I want to take a disc out. Is there a player that will go to the disc I select to retrieve and "slightly" eject it so I can spot it easier and grip it easier? I remember trying to get a disc out of my friends old megachanger and I always had a problem identifying the exact cd to pull out as the number label were so small and close together. practically needed tweezers and a magnifying glass.
4)BM for the SACD would be preferred.

So in summary, I guess Im looking for a player that has:
-Random play flexibility.
-Auto labeling through computer/internet hookups.
-Improved eject function.
-SACD Bass Management.
-and since I probably won't be able to run the analog outputs for SACD playback, would it sound as good? and would bass management still work through the digital output?

If such a player exists, who makes it and where can I get one? I realize I may be asking for too much, but you never know until you ask.

 

[Andrew Pratt]

Sony's have a disc eject mode that pushes the disc out a bit. I don't know if their CD player play SACD's or not but their DVD changers do. You can build custom play lists but its something I never do as I just use the 8 groups if I want to randomly play something. Don't know about BM for SACD but I think its there and it has to be analog as there's no digital connection available for the multichannel audio discs...at least not on the megachangers that I'm aware of.

 

[John Sully]

Ha, last night I was thinking that I would never be able to get my Sony/Slink-e setup going again, and I looked at the StreetFire controller. The durn thing is expensive ($750), but it does lots of nice things, including letting you rip disks from your Megachangers to a computer (this is a rocking' feature.) None of the non-dvd megachangers I'm aware of handle SACD's also, so you may well be out of luck there.

Right now the preferred Megachanger setup is a Sony of some sort coupled to the SAVR interface. The allows software to control the changers and let you set up playlists and whatnot. If you can find a used Slink-e it is even better, but the SAVE fro BlackBox designs is real cheap at $75 and the software is another $25.