Sony DVP 9000

I don't have first hand experience, but a friend just purchased one and sold his Theta Basic transport/DS Pro Basic IIIa DAC combo in favor of the Sony. He prefered the 9000's redbook playback. I too am considering selling my Planet for one.

I have a 9000 and it plays great redbook. The SACD sounds better, but the redbook is excellent for the price point. This unit has a fairly long break in period, so don't be too critical right off if you get a new one. 200 hours on the CD laser is typical. 400 on the SACD laser. When it is fully broken in, you will not go looking for a replacement anytime soon. I have not heard the Planet, so I cannot offer a direct comparison, but the 9000 is all the CD player I am going to need for quite some time. If you need to get better sound than the 9000, then get an analog setup and be done with it. Trying to get analog quality sound out of digital is like chasing your tail. You're never going to get there. I highly recommend the 9000 for digital, but use analog for maximum sound quality.

Very good in all that it does. I eventually upgraded to the Sony SCD-1 which is clearly sonically better in every category but at more than 3X's the price it should be. I have kept the e9000es and do not intend to get rid of it.

Probably cannot do much better for all that it does for the price.

For best sonic performance on the 9000es, turn off the digital output and the display.

As good as it gets at the price point. The break in time IS very long, over 300 hours for mine to really shine.

The 9000 is great. I have read that getting it modified can give you a 40% better player. I am waiting for EVS to start doing mods. ($400). Check out tweakaudio.com
Tim