to universal player or not?

VQLT

Active Member
It's time to replace my old DVD player. I was going to go the universal player route however, i am now wondering if I will really ever listen to sacd or dvd-audio. neither format seems to have taken off. ciruit city has stopped selling the discs and my local best buy has cut their sacd, dvd-audio section in half. If i forgo the universal player route I will have many more dvd players to choose from. just wondering which way to go
 
I'm inclined to believe (although I could very easily be wrong) that the audio circuitry in general gets a little more attention on the universal players than it does on a strictly dvd player. So even if you are only going to watch dvds and play redbook CDs it's probably worth it to go with a universal player.
 
Some universal players, such as the Yamaha I picked up, have totally separate circuits for DVD and CD/SACD. Others share circuitry and cut corners. If you find a good one, I think universal is the way to go. That way you have more options for experimenting and finding out what you want.

I don't worry about whether a certain format will be around or not. Just eventually snag enough music in a format you like to make it worthwhile long-term. I'm sure you can even get 8-track tapes fairly easy on the internet.
 
If you are considering SACD, check sa-cd.net and see if any SACD titles interest you. The site list just about all SACD available worldwide.

The big news this week is the release of Dire Strait's "Brothers In Arms" on SACD....

DireStraits_SACD_Cover.jpeg


DireStraits_SACD_Back.jpeg


Also announced today is an upcoming Roger Waters SACD from Sony/BMG.
 
Wasn't that recording (multitrack part) done on a Sony 4424? I'm thinking that was a unit that sampled at 44.1 and 16 bit.

How does it sound as a SACD?
 
Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms SACD

shstrang said:
Wasn't that recording (multitrack part) done on a Sony 4424? I'm thinking that was a unit that sampled at 44.1 and 16 bit.

How does it sound as a SACD?

You're correct it was 16/44.1........but it is receiving rave reviews for both its quality and the surround mix at QuadraphonicQuad .

Here's the direct link to the reviews posted:

Dire Straits QQ Forum review and rating

And the Quad guys know what good surround is all about! :naughty:

QB
 
I use a Denon DVD-2910 universal player and I am very happy with it. Superb sound quality on regular CDs, as well as SACD and DVD-Audio.

You can disable the display and video circuitry on it for even better sound quality. The DACs are top shelf Burr Browns and it does SACDs in true DSD with no conversion to PCM.

I did an informal A/B comparison with a Rega Planet, and it sounded identical on red book CDs.

It's made in China but of very high-quality. Gold plated connections and a nice brushed aluminum front panel.

It retails for $700 but I got an open box special for around $540 at my local Tweeter.
 
If you want (or think you may want in the future) any SACDs or DVDAs, then I would say go with the universal. They can be found for prices that are pretty low. I think the toshiba universal has been reviewed on this site.

I have a Yamaha C750 and I only use it for music. For DVDs, I either burn them to an external hard drive for access at anytime and playback on my Linkplayer networked DVD player or just pop them into my Bravo DVD player. The Linkplayer has a great picture, but I love the PQ on the Bravo and want to use it on occasion (I should probably just Ebay it).

If I were buying a DVD player and did not want universal playback, I would buy a Linkplayer for it's relatively low price, great upconverting picture over component outputs, and it's networking ability. It also has the ability to playback recorded high def if you are interested in that sort of thing.

There are a lot of choices. I need at least two players to suit all my needs.
 
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