It's hard to distinguish which one sounds better because I have no effective way to compare them A-B. I have to stop playback, switch RCA's from one player to the next, move the disc from one player to the next and then cue up the same track. By the time I get all that done, I don't believe that I am accurately remembering how the other sounded. As for age, the Onkyo is newer by several years, but only does 2 channel SACD playback and doesn't do DVD-A. However I only listen to two channel with it and currently have no DVD-A discs so neither of those is a big concern.