Vote

I bought my SACD player (Marantz SA-14) a week ago. It's a great Red Book machine as well . . . but that's not a patch on what I'm hearing from SACD. Beats me why anyone would want to settle for less!

I looked in vain for a place to check a plain vanilla NO, the advent of DVD-Audio has not dampened my desire for a new CD player. I'm not in the market for one, and haven't been for some time.

CD only? Yikes, like do you think I'm a fool? Like, when I bought my last Super Beta player, I knew it was better than anything that would come down the pipe for ten years—and I was right. But the only CD-only players I've bought since '85 have been in cars and the CD-R I put in my computers three years ago. Come on, nowadays we buy DVD drives, CD-R, and soon DVD-Rs in our computers and the DVD player in my home theater is 24/96 capable. Come on, my next jobby is gonna be a network 24/96 audio streamer based on a PC. CDs, yeah, like you can keep that with DIVX and ElCaset. HAHAHAHAHA . . . BTW: my Linn LP12 is still center stage, you dig?

I purchased a used Krell KPS-20t in excellent condition last month. I am doing some modifications and tweaks to my Assemblage 3.0 DAC for even better sound. I won't buy DVD-A unless watermarks in the audio, even the options for their use, are eliminated. SACD took the better road with their copy-protection scheme and gets my vote as long as it stays out of the audio. High-end/high-resolution audio should be pure music. How can anyone call their system Hi-end/high-resolution if watermarks, even the option of their use, are imbedded in the audio?

Next player will be a Multichannel SACD/CD player.

I bought ROTEL RCD991

Sold all my CDs, I listen only to SACDs and 24/96 DAD DVDs.

After hearing a Holfi "Xara" 16/44 CD player recently I plan to audition and buy a better quality CD player than the one I presently own on which to play the six thousand CDs I own. I await comprehensive catalogs of readily available, reasonably priced (mainly jazz) software from all major labels before taking the SACD/DVD-A plunge.

I'm not really interested in buying a CD-only player anymore, but waiting for the new formats to shake out is taking much longer than I would have guessed. Probably I'll upgrade my DVD player with one that can do DVD-A and -V, then, if the market remains undecided for another 6 months or so, I'll get a mid-level CD-only player. How long did VHS vs. Beta take?

With the Sony SCD-1 and 777ES, you got a superb transport and excellent Red Book performance. As a CD only player, you can not go wrong. SACD is therefore risk-free with these units, since you got a great price for CD only. With that in mind, who would ever buy a CD only player today? Not me.

Having two DVD players and a few 24/96 discs, I'd say the future may be bright! But until someone comes out with a truly universal machine, I will not buy! Also, why are most SACD's re-issues? If this medium is so good, why not record in it from the start? And they better be able to be played on a "normal" CD player! Sony is really too greedy!

I have bought my last CD-only player, a Forsell transport and D/A. This will join my Forsell turntable as the last of its kind.

My current LP and CD playback systems meet all my sonic needs. I have absolutely no interest in the new formats.

Did I sell my vinyl or replace it all with compact discs?NO. Neither did I ditch my turntable. (Well, I did, but for a better one). Will I buy a new CD-only player? YES. I'm in the process of looking now. Will I be sucked in by the less-than-stellar launch of DVD or SACDs? NO. Will I run out and replace all my vinyl and discs (only about 2000 titles total) with the same DVD or SACD titles that don't exist yet? F@#$ NO. Will I be forced to accept another (and of course, more expensive) music format rammed down my throat by short-sighted, greedy record conglomerate money whores who have no respect for the artist or consumer? I THINK NOT. I'll return to vinly-only, first. The new formats may sound better, but I'm not prepared to replace all my hardware AND software again.

Before I would invest in a new digital player of any kind I will need to see some kind of resolution (pardon the pun) to the whole digital protection debate. I have a large library of CDs which I can listen to without having to endure any added distortion that a bunch of greedy, paranoid, suits want to foist off on me.

Yes, but I am having difficulty deciding on one player: Audio Analogue, Denon, YBA Integre, Audio Refinement Complete, Electrocompaniet EMC-1. I suppose if everyone buys the SACD/DVD-A Universal Waste-of-Time player, they could offer their "outdated" CD players at half price. While they're deciding how many speakers it takes to feel "surrounded," I'll use my time to enjoy listening to Angela Gheorghiu's wonderful voice singing in an appropriate soundstage.

Bought a Wadia 860x last year and just had it upgraded to an 861 and have never looked back at the mess that is going on. The quality is great and I have all of those CDs to play.

Having been a "vinylphile" for many years, and having heard the new technology available today (SACD, HDCD, DSD, DVD, etc.), I can tell you that anyone who spends money on the "new technology" will be sorry down the road. It's like a guessing game. Eenie, meenie, minie, moe. Where do you think the newest technology will go, go, go? As most prudent individuals would agree, life has no room for guessing because the guessing game can destroy you. For example, you wouldn't buy a stock because you were told that it's the newest and "hottest" thing out there, would you? Or if someone were to tell you "I can get you in on the ground floor of a business venture," would you buy into it or walk the other way? I have found that the tried and true is the best way to live life. That applies to music, as well. I wouldn't give up my Basis 'table with its associated ancillary equipment for any of the latest fads out there, Why? Because vinyl reproduction sounds better today than it ever has, and because the "new technology" sounds nauseating and unmusical by comparison. Oh. Did I mention that I do not now, nor have I ever, owned a CD/DSD/SACD/DVD player? I suppose that it was fairly obvious, but don't get the idea that I am anally retentive about my 'table preference. Now, if you'll excuse me, I really must check my VTA.

I bought my first CD player in January '01. I will buy a new tone arm & cartridge before I buy another digital box!

My 1000+ CDs will not be going away anytime soon and it seems that a significant number of new two-channel or multi-channel SACD or DVD-A software is still far off, as well. Besides, the Linn Ikemi CD player I intend to purchase, sounds more life-like than any SACD or DVD-A machine playing CDs that I have so far auditioned.

I've just bought a Toshiba CD-R/CD-RW player. I have more than 500 cd's and friends with more than 2.000 cd's. For that reason until there's a format at the same price or cheaper, stay with cd's until then( I also have a JVC ZL1050TN ).

I'll probably end up with both types of players in my system. For a while, at least, there won't be a whole lot of stuff available on SACD or DVD-Audio, so people with regular players will still have very little reason to upgrade. Since I already have a good CD player, I will probably not purchase another, and will instead start shopping for a SACD or DVD-Audio player that also plays Red Book CDs.

Yes, I'm quite interested in buying a CD-only player: Because my Micromega Stage 2 soon deserves retirement and the "launch" of a hi rez digital format has made me even more confused and uncertain than I was 2 years ago! *The anarchy of formats *The lack of dig. outs *The "see through" wathermarking *The lack of new music AND I'm not gonna support anything that's not supporting my collection of plain "good old red book 16/24" CD's. For most audiophiles that, like me, has a good or even a very good system, but not a reeeealy good top of the line high end system, the betterness of a hi rez format probably will not be that great. I.e. I know for sure that my system cannot reproduce the 20.000+hz sounds, -neither my amps og my speakers! Investing in a new hi rez. player for sure will make me need / want to upgrade the rest of my system, and probably also expand from 2 channel to multichannel and screen! I'm not ready for that. Neither my wallet or my mind are! And I don't wanna be "forced" into it. Until the industry can offer something "ordinary audiophiles" can feel comfortable with regarding the future (no format war), the present (software to buy), and past (our CD collections)I say: Go red book!! regs inasilentway

Linn Ikemi the best CD player I have heard in the less than 10000 dollar price range. Just added a Naim flatcap/stageline to my system as well and the Linn is as close to vinyl I have acheived without a stylus. So I can wait until the SACD/DVD-Audio war is over and the dust settles. I then may consider a new format. But I am betting on SACD Stereo. After all God gave us two ears, so that we have two speakers. The surround sound is for movies. A good set of speakers and a good equipment set in the proper room does encompass the listener anyway

Considering I now have four devices which can play CDs, I will definitely not be purchasing another CD player.

would buy one that had mp3 @ wma - cdr @ cdrw

I bought and modified the Sony SCD-777ES player with my present CD catalog in mind.

With my budget, I have to combine some products. That doesn't mean that I plan to buy the black box that does the most. I think it is possible to get multiple functions and quality, you just might have to look a little harder.

I am not really anxious to buy either of the new systems. I definitely have no interest at all in surround sound either for audio or video.

What a mess! The more I hear of DVD-A/SACD, the more I want to stick with CD. Let 'em figure it out & gimme a call in two years or so!