So what should be my next HT toy?

[leadbelly]

My TEAC DVD player is aging, although it still plays perfectly, but it is not progressive scan, etc. Just not enough bells and whistles.

A year ago I would have said a DVD changer was the cat's meow because it would be great for parties.

Now, everybody is eating up the SACD players even though the music catalogues are relatively small for them.

So what's leading the "toys for boys" poll?

[purplepeople]

At what price point?

At my budget, I could only afford a Sony DVP-NC650V DVD/CD/SACD 5-changer. But it is so much better than many plain DVP or CDP in the same range. I think Sony still sells NC or NS models that have DSD circuits so unless the sound has gotten worse, these get my vote for mid-range cost.

So why DVP? Well, not really for the DSD, although I did get some SACDs just to find out how much better it is than CD (only marginally and only at 5:00AM when there are no sounds outside and the fridge is not compressing). But since DSD circuits "must" be smoother than CD and the unit has 5.1 analog outs, I can run without expensive processor directly to active studio monitors. My friend with old Sony XA-707ES likes it so it cannot be as bad as other might say.

I don't know about more expensive models - I'm scared to even demo them for fear of damage to credit rating.

:)ensen.

[leadbelly]

Thanks. Your comments are exactly the type of thing I was looking for.

I didn't specify price because I didn't want to deter someone from recommending something that was more than I hoped to spend, but it sounds like you're happy with your Sony and that may very well be what I'm looking for.

[purplepeople]

My parents need a better 5.1 receiver than the old Yamaha RXV they have now... any suggestions for cheap clean power?

TIA,

:)ensen.

[purplepeople]

A quick look at www.sonystyle.ca shows these:

SCD-CE595 5-disc CD/DVD/SACD
$269.99 CAD

SCD-C2000ES 5-disc CD/DVD/SACD
$699.99 CAD

DVP-CX985V 400-disc CD/DVD/SACD
$799.99 CAD

I've noticed that if you stay with SACD capable units, you get much better noise specs, even at the same price points. It's as if they mark up the MP3 units to make up for the lost music sales and give SACD music buyers a break for spending on the media.

:)ensen.

[Cameron]

Denon is coming out with the DVD-2910 for about $730. Nice universal player with HD digital video outputs. Also plays Windows Media Audio v9 files. Much superior to MP3. Even has a lossless mode. Supports MP3s and WMA9s on DVD media too. With the lossless, you could put 10 to 12 full albums on a standard DVD-5 blank. Not bad at all. So you can get changer kinda playtime without the changer.

The Denon site doesn't show it yet. But does show the DVD-3910 for $1300, which is supposedly the same thing, but includes a 1394 digital audio output. Probably better quality audio chips and passives too I would imagine. Here is where I saw the original information. About half way down the page.