I'll add my exprience for what is it is worth. My long-term flagship SACD player was the Sony XA9000ES, which to my ears sounded terrific. I kept it going as long as I could but it finally gave up the ghost a few years back. As back-up, I also owned an XA5400ES, which lacked the multichannel capability, and didn't sound quite as good so it sat in my home office system. I replaced the XA9000ES with a Marantz SA-K1 Ruby, which did not sound as involving, and also refused to play certain discs, ones the XA5400ES played perfectly. I understand that there may be known problems with the Marantz transports, so beware. I recently went all in and purchased a Luxman D-10X, which sounds amazing and also reads 100% of what I feed it. I had been using the Sony, which is a fine machine, but the Luxman takes everything to a higher level- my wife was immediately able to tell the difference in sound, for example, and she is not a critical listener. My dealer (Excel Audio in Newport Beach) gave me a reasonable trade-in on the Marantz.....I still have the Sony for a second system. I wanted to audition an Esoteric as well, but was unable to find a dealer with one in stock. But I am good to go with the Luxman. I am fairly certain that this is my last SACD player.
Looking for SACD player
I want to replace my Jay's Audio CDT2-MK2 with an SACD player that would be used as a player (with it's own DAC) for SACDs and as a transport to a Berkeley Alpha 3 DAC for regular CDs. I have Prima Luna EVO 400 amp and preamp and Devore Gibbon X speakers.
I have been looking at the Luxman D-07X, but it's a little out of my preferred price range (up to $10K). I have also listened to a Marantz 30N and while it sounded OK, it has a lot of extras (network, bluetooth, etc) that I don't need or want.
Please don't recommend that I switch to streaming. I prefer physical media.
Thanks
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- 33 posts total
- 33 posts total

