SACD certainly bests CD for me.

Nodaker, Your on the path I want-a CD player that sounds as good as or better than a good SACD played on the NS 9100ES-very adaquate sound. Mind saying what CD player you updated to. After listening to CD through the NS9100ES I notice it's quite veiled through my Spectral/MIT system; such that an HDCD, "Reference Recordings 30th Anniversary Album", played through my modest Toshiba SD 9200 simply "blows it away" musically with clarity, dynamics and timbre that are leagues beyond the newer Sony. I'm surprised that the Sony is so inferior since the Toshiba is 6 years older-but, knowing Sony somewhat, is it possible they just don't put their best effort into 'plain old CD'.

Ncarv, that's very interesting about the artists wanting more money for a dual layer disc. I think they shd have been happy to get paid for each disc sold, regardless the format(s).

Jim swanko. I find the Esoteric a bit much for my CD player budget-not saying that its not worth every penny;I think we in the high end listening corp are lucky to have such huge reputable,reliable companies creating masterpieces for our enjoyment. It moves all reproduction forward with business competition. However, I'd like to spend $1500 or less for(fleeting?) CD playback.

Ncarv, isn't it also a little unbelievable how the DVD-A consortium ruined the sound benefits by the video screen requirement.

Very interesting to know. Perhaps it is just the implementation. Unfortunate really as I thought improved sound for all out of their DVD player would have encouraged even better recording quality. Denon gets so much good press I'm going to try and demo the 3910.