I had a Sony XA-777es sacd player I bought new a couple years ago, redbook was OK..far from outstanding though. SACD playback of well recorded sacd's was a different story...I thought outstanding in every way...$3,000 retail
I don't own but did spend a lot of time listening to an Ayre player at a local dealer (also $3,000 retail). I was not there to listen to the player, I was listening to some huge ($14,000 I think?) VMPS speakers. The Ayre did catch my ear though and I went back and listened to it several times...very nice player.
In regards to your question:
I did stumble into a trade for a DAC I knew nothing about. I traded a pair of speakers ($500) value that I no longer had use for...a local for sale or trade ad I ran.
The DAC is an old Counterpoint DAC-10A with ultra-analog card and HDCD decoder...sales receipt says $3,885 at the bottom (3/12/96)...ten years old now
Now here's the cheap DVD player part. I had three on hand when I got the DAC...I figured the $1,200 retail unit would be my choice, the other two were under $150 retail and used mostly for movies...I tried them all anyway.
The winner...a $100 Pioneer DVD-563A by a long shot, clearly has something going on with the old Counterpoint that the other two players did not?
Could it sound better?...I'll guess yes, with a better transport. Overall...right up there with those two $3,000 players to my ear...a $600 stumble that paid off is my way of looking at it.
So, IMHO and all that stuff...my answer is yes, maybe
Dave
I don't own but did spend a lot of time listening to an Ayre player at a local dealer (also $3,000 retail). I was not there to listen to the player, I was listening to some huge ($14,000 I think?) VMPS speakers. The Ayre did catch my ear though and I went back and listened to it several times...very nice player.
In regards to your question:
I did stumble into a trade for a DAC I knew nothing about. I traded a pair of speakers ($500) value that I no longer had use for...a local for sale or trade ad I ran.
The DAC is an old Counterpoint DAC-10A with ultra-analog card and HDCD decoder...sales receipt says $3,885 at the bottom (3/12/96)...ten years old now
Now here's the cheap DVD player part. I had three on hand when I got the DAC...I figured the $1,200 retail unit would be my choice, the other two were under $150 retail and used mostly for movies...I tried them all anyway.
The winner...a $100 Pioneer DVD-563A by a long shot, clearly has something going on with the old Counterpoint that the other two players did not?
Could it sound better?...I'll guess yes, with a better transport. Overall...right up there with those two $3,000 players to my ear...a $600 stumble that paid off is my way of looking at it.
So, IMHO and all that stuff...my answer is yes, maybe
Dave