Redbook+SACD Player to Replace Denon 5900?

Voodoo is when one pretends he is adressing the inferior lack of resolution of Redbook through the player rather than through the CD itself. While I *can* hear differences in Redbook CD player quality, I'm just not going to lavish money on a Redbook-only player when the buck stops at the source, the 16bit CD. If you want to put a $2 diamond on a $10,000 gold band, go ahead! For the last 20 years recording devices have gotten better, (witness 20 bit, 24bit, DSD), but the master still has to be compromised to fit on your (our) 23 year old 16 bit CD. The resolution ceiling is the resolution ceiling, no ifs ands or bits, er...buts.

Did you set the Marantz for CD direct? (Otherwise the sound may be accidentally processed back to PCM, that could be why it sounds bad so bad to you.) Did you address the fact that the output stage on the Marantz might not be up to par? Did you burn it in? Did you use an original DSD recording, or a horrid re-master of some crappy rock recording? All this matters. SACD, especially pure DSD or DSD remastered from good analog, *not* PCM), is just better than PCM. I can even hear the difference between DSD and original hi-rez PCM remastered to DSD, (Chandos and DG), the remastered PCM is still harsh. PCM also carries the burden of a very complicated decoding process, while DSD is much simpler and elegant. No matter how expensive the rest of your equipment is, the buck stops at the lousy resolution of Redbook. Wouldn't you rather let DSD, or 2,822,400 samples per second flow through your equipment?? (And the noise issue is BS; I flipped off the filter of my Marantz and got even better sound. My amp and speakers didn't explode.)

Nothing Rob, under 10K?

Anyway: Marantz, Classe, Musical Fidelity all make very good SACD/CD 2 channel players with redbook sound as good as it gets, and the usual extraordinary SACD, under 10K. Numbers are numbers dear, no matter how much voodoo is installed in the machine, redbook can only be resolved so much. BTW, can you explain to me...if Sony's bandwagon "goes to nowhere," how this with affect the brisk sales of Telarc SACDs, Naxos' SACDs Linn SACDs, Mobile Fidelity's SACDs, etc; your fixation on Sony is gettin' kinda weird. Yes, home theater geeks have bought up almost all 800 of Musical Fidelity's limited-edition $6500K SACD/CD players, but surely they aren't buying software, as it doesn't reconcile with your "reality." (Chailly's new Mahler 3rd in on back-order--sold out-- at Archiv as we speak--but no, you're right, it's a bandwagon to nowhere.) SACD may be 80% of vinyl, but it's better than 100% of 16bit PCM. Don't listen to such goofballs Dpipple, they absolutely don't want to recognise a superior sound in a technology that is elegantly simple and cheaper than Redbook machines with all their voodoo add-ons. It's like Gilligan got off the Island (the achievement of great sound without a lot of hassle), and some people feel 16- bit, er... I mean, empty inside.