I'd buy the Muse (esp. if you can spring for the Signature version). The Sony probably (just a guess) has the better video playback, but with the way video is going, after your pocketbook recovers from buying the Muse, you could buy a $250 Sony DVD player that will probably equal the 9000. The video sections in even the cheapest DVD players coming out now are getting startling good reviews. Or, you might be totally satisfied with the Muse's video output and have an all-in-one player for both purposes that is excellent. -Kirk
You could buy the Sony for $1000 or so and spend another $1000 or more on mods (by Ric Schultz, Stan Warren, Dan Wright, etc). It would still be cheaper than the used Muse 9, possibly better, AND you'd have a great SACD player too.
The Sony DVP s9000es is a fantastic bang-for-buck player. I've owned one for the past year and only recently purchased a Sony SCD-1. Clearly the SCD-1 is a better player as it offers better refinements in virtually every sonic category as it should.
But the s9000es still gets you 8/10th's of the way there if you shutdown all video, digital, and display lights. The video picture is also quite nice. You probably cannot do better for the price.
For $250, Stan Warren (co-founder of PS Audio) can modify the s9000es for a 25% gain in sonic improvements (according to Stan). A friend of a friend who had Stan do the mod said it was more like 40% improvement.
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