Best Universal Player under $350?

Archived from groups: rec.audio.high-end (More info?)

tenpro3000@aol.com (Tenpro3000) wrote in message news:<cntvlu0i5f@news1.newsguy.com>...
> Hi,I would like to hear from anyone who would like to offer an informed opinion
> as to which is the best universal player(Sacd/dvd-a) under $350 and why. Is cd
> upsampling of practical value?I will be using this for 2 channel audio and
> video performance is not a priority.

There are not many players that do both DVD-A & SACD at that price. I
chose the Pioneer DV-575A. Which was incredibly just £130 at
www.richersounds.com . I teamed this up with a Cambridge Audio Azur
540R (a budget AV Amp), and my vintage Tannoy 602 speakers. The
Pioneer plays just about any kind of disk you can throw at it
including JPG's MP3 WMA etc.

The reason I bought it was it got 5 stars in every hi-fi magazine I
read. I have to say the machine doesn't disapoint. Personally I think
it handles DVD-A slightly better than SACD, a mini review (On sound
quality rather than content) -

Bjork - Medulla - DVD-A - Excellent
Donald Fagen - Kamakiriad - DVD-A - Execellent
Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells - SACD - Very Good
The Eagles - Hotel Cslifornia - DVD-A - Very Good
Snow Patrol - Final Straw - SACD - Very Good
Michael Nyman - The Piano - SACD - Very Good
Roxy Music - Avalon - SACD - Good

IMHO Its only worth moving up if you also move to 5.1, otherwise you
will miss out on what the artist intended i.e. Bjork/Medulla

You might also want to look at the budget Denon range.