Redbooks: as good on Sony SACD as on Cary 303?

The Cary 303 is an outstanding CD player. I doubt that a mass marketed lower-end SACD player can match it playing standard CD's. The higher-end SACD players *might* have a chance but from what I've read, on standard CD play back, they're not quite up to par with the best CD players.

I would love to get a Sony SCD-777ES or the SCD-1 in here side-by-side with my Cary 306/200 and compare regular CD playback. To me that is the true test in justifying the purchase of an SACD player (for me). If it can't play my 500+ standard CD's to my liking, I can't see buying one. The SACD capability is just icing on the cake but it has to pass the first hurdle of regular CD playback. My 2 cents worth...

Pendragn, I did not do an A/B comparison between the Cary 303 and the 306/200 but I did listen to them separately about a month apart. I was extremely impressed and pleased with the Cary 303 and could easily live with that player for a long long time. Its a great value. The 306/200 uses 8 DACs and the new PMD-200 digital filter and has 24bit/192KHz upsampling. It does sound a bit better than the 303 especially with upsampling enabled but is it worth the $2000 (LIST) price delta? I can't answer that.

I do like the fact that the 306/200 has digital inputs that allow me to use it as an outboard DAC for my other digital sources. I can select from AES/EBU, Toslink, or Coaxail inputs from the front panel or the remote. I have my Adcom 5-disc changer driving the Coaxial input so I can play the Adcom thru the Cary's DAC's for some awesome sound from an inexpensive changer.

The 24bit/192KHz upsampling is impressive with a noticeable improvement in depth, air, and dynamcis - something that wasn't so noticeable to me in the 24bit/96KHz upsampling MSB Gold Link III DAC. An outstanding DAC for the price, BTW.

I should mention that an audiophile on http://AudioAsylum.com traded in ther Sony SCD-777ES for a Cary 303. She reported that the Sony sounded flat and boring compared to the Cary's rich and musically engaging sound on regular CD playback.

Blues_man, you are joking aren't you? To a certain extent I agree that its marketing crap but on the other hand there have been significant improvements in the digital domain over the past few years. 18-bit DAC's vs 24-bit DACs. Improvements to the digital filters like the Burr-Brown DF1704 vs Pacific Microsonics PMD-100 and PMD-200. CD isn't "perfect" media and if all CD players were the same, I'd be using a $99 Emerson or other brand from JC Penny or Sears.

Blues_man, marketing hype or not many modern CD players do sound a lot better than early models from the late 80's or early 90's. Most improvements are due to higher resolution DAC's and better digital filters, not analog electronics.

Blues_man, we agree to some extent. I am an engineer and can't see spending more than $50 or so for a power cord. My favorite cord I made myself using parts from Home Depot!

But I also feel that digital component technologies have improved significantly in just the past few years making it worth while auditioning some of the newer gear, CD players and DACs in particular. I disagree with your quote "this chip vs that chip is all marketing crap". The newer "chips" HAVE made an improvement in the quality of sound from recent model CD players and DACs.

Some info on "chips" from Jeff Chan, another engineer and audiophile. And he's not in the audio business:

http://MyCollins.net/audio/filter-comparison.html

Blues_man, you commented about early CD players using DSP's to create different effects. Some of the latest digital filters used in the best sounding CD players and DACs are based on modern DSP chips.... Sony uses DSP in their SACD models and any players that use HDCD decoder/filter from PMD.... PMD HDCD decoder/filters are based on DSP chips. Just a thought since you seem to like HDCD.