Sony SCDXA9000ES or Krell SACD Standard?


I am in the process of purchasing a new home sudio/theater system and would like to include a good mid- to high-end SACD/CD player. I am leaning towards the Sony SCDXA9000ES over the Krell SACD Standard as it has bass management, while the Krell does not. The Krell, on the other hand, offers balanced outputs for 2 channel operation.

The rest of the system is Classe SSP600, Classe CA5200, B&W 802D, HTM2D, 4 x DS8s and the ASW855.

Any opinions out there on which way to go? Will the lack of bass management seriously compromize the Krell's multichannel performance with the DS8s?

Ideally, I would wait until the new BD and HD-DVD players offer the necessary codecs, but that could take a while. I suspect it will be even longer before we get decent audio and analog sections in the new devices.

The Sony is officially discontinued, but there still appear to be dealers with some in inventory.

Thanks in advance.
irichmond
My vote goes for the Krell. I've owned mine for 2+yrs. and have been very happy with its performance. To my ears, its the best sounding CD Player in its price range (around $4K).
The Krell Standard is a very good CD Player (as well as SACD), read the review in TAS from this past May. It sounds & looks better than the Sony, plus you get a 5-yrs. warranty along with excellent product support from Krell.
Another vote for the SACD Standard. I would recomend the updated SACD Standard V5.2 It is much more reliable the the original. Love the sound...

Krell stands behind their products. I owned the original SACD Standard (haveing bought used off Audiogon. The original seller included the BOS from the authorized Krell dealer). It developed a transport problem. Repaired under warranty. Turn-around time only 9 days (to-from-Krell). Next day back developed the same transport problem. E-mailed Krell. Got a very apologetic responce from Patrick Bresnahan. Krell replaced my SACD with a brand new updated V5.2 at no cost.....