I agree with Jfrech, the DV-50 is sort of the Porsche of Universal Players. It may not be the best, but it is a solid and reliable benchmark of all around high performance. I have gone through a lot of players and ended up back with the DV-50. It is a bargain at $3K.
Three things to keep in mind though; 1) Not all multi-channel players have adjustable levels on their multi-channel outputs. Unless you are running all the same speakers equidistant from the listening spot and all the same amps, you'll likely need to adjust the level of some of the channels to get the sound correct. Many multi-channel pre/pros just have a straight pass-through with no adjustability. I don't think the Compli has this because I think Theta expects you to use their other gear along with it, which does. To the best of my recollection, same goes for the Primare DVD30, the Simaudio Orbiter, and the Bel-Canto PLayer.
2) Also there are bass management adjustments. Not all players have it and those that do, some work for SACD and not for DVD-A or is it the other way around?
3) Then finally there is time alignment, which compensates for having speakers that are not all equidistant from your listening spot. Some players have it and others dont, and again, sometimes it works for DVD-A and not for SACD or is it the other way around?
All this before you even hear one! And they do sound different, even as transports. It is a confusing adventure that I am glad is over for me for now. It is so hard to keep track of that I ended up making a spreadsheet with each players attributes because I thought my head was going to explode.
I wrote a long thread (longer than this!) at the link below that describes part of my painful journey:
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?ddgtl&1129877322&openmine&zzDbld&4&5#Dbld
Good luck and I really mean it.
Three things to keep in mind though; 1) Not all multi-channel players have adjustable levels on their multi-channel outputs. Unless you are running all the same speakers equidistant from the listening spot and all the same amps, you'll likely need to adjust the level of some of the channels to get the sound correct. Many multi-channel pre/pros just have a straight pass-through with no adjustability. I don't think the Compli has this because I think Theta expects you to use their other gear along with it, which does. To the best of my recollection, same goes for the Primare DVD30, the Simaudio Orbiter, and the Bel-Canto PLayer.
2) Also there are bass management adjustments. Not all players have it and those that do, some work for SACD and not for DVD-A or is it the other way around?
3) Then finally there is time alignment, which compensates for having speakers that are not all equidistant from your listening spot. Some players have it and others dont, and again, sometimes it works for DVD-A and not for SACD or is it the other way around?
All this before you even hear one! And they do sound different, even as transports. It is a confusing adventure that I am glad is over for me for now. It is so hard to keep track of that I ended up making a spreadsheet with each players attributes because I thought my head was going to explode.
I wrote a long thread (longer than this!) at the link below that describes part of my painful journey:
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?ddgtl&1129877322&openmine&zzDbld&4&5#Dbld
Good luck and I really mean it.