I am tired of be a format cash cow for the large hard/software manufactures. My cd player is a 560 magnavox. It still works just fine thanks. Any hardware changes will be made well after the new devices have been on the market for a while.

I want my PCM pure and simple. No PCM output, no sale.

How can I deal with jitter ? As I know jitter problem can be sort out with a D/A converter but a digital output is needed.

Whilst I feel that the new digital formats have considerable merit, I'm also very aware of how quickly the digital circuitry in these players will become outdated by constant advances. After all, your PC is outdated before you get it home. Making a digital playback device without access to the digital datastream is no different from making a PC without the ability to upgrade the CPU, memory, or hard disk. It may be adequate now, but will you still be happy in 3 years' time? For me, with the exciting possibilities in outboard digital equalization (the Z-systems boxes are just the tip of the iceberg in this field) and cost-effective upsampling (Bel Canto DAC-1 upsampler/DAC for $1200), to buy a new digital format without a digital output and no absolute guarantee that one will be made available in the future is a license for the companies making these boxes to take you to the cleaners every 12 months. ("Hey, our profits are dropping

As an owner of a digital ML system, transport/converter, I don't even consider buying any new format until those imposed limitations of digital outputs are solved.

Why would anyone buy a brand-new product w/o any way to upgrade in the future?

After use external DAC's I'll never use one piece players again, for this digital output is mandatory...

Especially important for DVD-Audio + Video (Home Theater) Drives, that are used as a stereo system, too.

Digital's greatest promise lies in new crossovers. A $5000 disc player shouldn't prevent this.

If the equipment was built correctly in the first place, there would be no need for the additional outputs -- that is, of course, unless you want to copy the original source.

Hey, I listen to Mini disc's on the go, am I suspose to put a mic infront of the speakers?!

I've invested a large sum of money in a digital preamp which can be upgraded to any of the new formats. I'm not about to buy a new playback unit unless I can take advantage of the convenience and the higher quality my existing piece offers.

better include how do you change d./a?

I don't believe digital outputs is on the mind of but very few people at this point in time. Everyone is waiting to see what will ultimately happen between DVD-A and SACD. I'm just guessing, however I believe in the long run DVD-A will win this battle, unfortunately my heart is with the SACD crowd. Another point that needs to be made is, who wants a first or second generation anything. We audiophiles seem to want to wait for that perfected product. Who knows, when this thing runs it's course, we might be looking at separate transports and D to A converters again !

They know it. But first, greed. They want to grab as many hungry audiophiles as possible. But you can be sure as they are: no bits, no future.