The ones I've seen and heard (music is very important to me): Denon 9000 Bel Canto Player Linn Unidisk Ones I haven't seen but read about: Denon 5900 (with Mods) Muse MSB
Depends on the use. It isn't really in the catagory, we're spending $750 each on the Pioneer DVD-V7400s... they're wonderful and indesctructable, and have a great deal of internal power. Major problem: 1. No progressive output. Major benefits: 1. Runs forever and then some. (We've got 45,000+ hours on some of our transports now, and they're still going strong.) 2. Powerful internal programming 3. Powerful, simple external serial control Leo Kerr [email protected]
I've been very impressed with my Sony 9000ES which retailed for about $1800. Video and audio performance are both superb, although the ergonomics are a bit quirky. I A-B'd the audio DAC performance against my Lexicon MC-12 and couldn't honestly tell any difference. The new Lexicon RT-10 does have me drooling, though. At only $3500, it is reported to have few equals. It plays virtually any audio or video disc, has awesome connectivity, and according to Stereophile has virtually identical performance to the Meridian 598 The Meridian 598 is a very nice player, although its $6000. MSRP is a bit lofty, and to take advantage of many of its advanced features (particularly for SACD), you need the matching Meridian pre/pro. Most videophiles claim the Camelot Roundtable MK2 ($5000) is the benchmark for video performance. Its Silicon Image deinterlacer is one of the best on the market... although it is of dubious value to those of us with outboard scalers. It's more of a pure DVD player - not offering the "universal play" features of, say, the Lexicon. But for the finest possible picture, this is probably the machine to get.
Don't forget the, ahem $70k Goldmund Eidos Reference player. http://www.goldmund.com/old/EidosReference/intro.html Hehe.
Oh man! I called to get one and I was the 51st person with a downpayment. Well I guess I have to wait on the next $70k unit.
I'd also mention the Proceed PDMT player. It got consistantly great reviews when it was introduced, and it's performance in my system confirms what I read. Beutiful picture quality. Music is very important to me, and this was the best CD player I ever heard, until I got my Levinson 390S. Madrigal unfortunately got bought out by Harmon Kardon, and the Proceed line was discontinued last year.
All the Arcam players, from the $999 DiVA Dv78 to the $2999 FMJ DV27A are excellent. They also just came out with a HDMI DVD-A player (MSRP $1799). I have the DiVA DV88 Plus (MSRP $1599) and it's awesome, both video and audio, and doubles as a first rate CD player. I'm getting ready to send it off to Arcam for an upgrade that adds the Silcon Image SiI504 deinterlacer (bringing it up to the video quality of the FMJ DV27A). Movies in HD on D* look only marginally better than DVDs on my Arcam. Dean
