Upgrade CD transport/player vs. Sacd transport/player

@rar1 

the referenced inexpensive SONY universal player sounds like crap

Hi Rick

Seems we are about the same age!  I never mind a good bit of sarcasm, whether dishing it out or taking it.  Forgive me for thinking the embodiment of NYC is T-rex.

Have you actually listened to said Sony transport (not player)?

I have two of them and they sound exactly like the dacs they feed via HDMI!  That's the benefit of a transport rather than a player!

Try A/B testing against a known quality SACD transport that outputs native HDMI..

Now the inexpensive Sonys obviously do not have the build quality of high-end Sony gear, and the remote is missing features like direct track access, but they do the exact same delivery job as any digital transport, in my opinion as a scientist / engineer.  All for a couple of hundred bucks.

For the purists, they do have an external wall-wart power supply delivering 12-Volts but this could easily be supplanted by an automotive battery for the ultimate in clean power supply.

Meanwhile close relatives of the Oppo universal disk players keep popping up, like Magnetar and Reavon, though I think Reavon has dropped theirs now.

By the way, the dacs in my Reavon player really are crap for playing SACDs.  They down-convert to CD quality.  Digital output over HDMI is just fine, though

Seasons greetings!

@larsman 

some prefer analog watches to digital for aesthetic reasons, not nostalgic

These days, i wear one of each (sort of).

My doctor convinced me I needed a smart watch to replace my credit cards, so I obliged him.  It takes and makes telephone calls and tells me how unfit I am.  Reputedly it will text my parter if I fall over or just die.  It does this several times a month!  It even keeps dead accurate time, thanks to its GPS connection.  

But its battery capacity is so poor I am not allowed to die during the half-an-hour a day it is charging.  To preserve the battery the screen is usually off, so I cannot even see the time at a glance.

So on the other hand (literally) I have an analogue-looking watch, though it has a quartz (digital) clock.  Unlike most battery powered watches, I have never had the back off in the decade or more I have owned it.  That's because its face is a solar cell that recharges its internal battery.  It just keeps going, non-stop.

I used to have a real analogue watch - a Rolex Oyster Perpetual no less.  Powered by movements of my wrist (don't go there).  But it needed cleaning, and oiling.  And every time it was serviced, jewels in the movement came loose weeks later.

People have tried to interest me in Swiss analogue watches that cost as much as a Porsche so I accept their champagne, swoon over their watches, then casually ask how often they need servicing, and where this is done.  Then I ask how much a service.  Could get a decent new Hyundai every two years for less.

I am not into bling.  I'd prefer to pay a reasonable amount for something that does the job it is supposed to perform!

Seasons greetings

@richardbrand - thank you for that, Richard, and a very amusing write-up - Happy Holidays to you, and I hope you don't get a Rolex for Christmas! 

@kjl1065 It's what they say-- that the Onix Zenith will pass along DSD, and as long as the DAC supports DSD, it will give you true DSD in its native format.  At least that is the way I understand it.