SACD Player choice; Yamaha CD-S1000 or Denon DCD-1600NE

[lovinthehd]

I only listen to Jazz at the Pawnshop in stereo. Cafe Blue is only stereo.

I had the 83SE for years so I knew what it sounded like. I had a Denon 2900 before that and the 83SE was an improvement over it. Those are considered benchmark units, then the 105 came out and became the "standard" for players at the time. I would say it is more like a fine wine, where it is subtle what makes it better, but you CAN taste it. Is it worth the price may be a different story (and I don't like expensive wine lol) and everyone's tolerance is different for how much improvement you get. It isn't like "a veil was removed" and this isn't like cables or other things that people assign magic words to, it is verifiable as noted in Gene's bench tests of the 203 and 205. The difference between the 105 and 205 is hard to hear, but between the 83SE and 105 I could hear it.

Oppo UDP-203 & UDP-205 Ultra HD Blu-ray Players Review

We reviewed Oppo's newest Blu-ray players, the UDP-203 and UDP-205. With very responsive interfaces and state of the art playback performance The UDP-203/205 will leave you wanting very little.

www.audioholics.com

I don't ascribe a sound to any of my players (or most all electronics for that matter). It's mostly in the consumer's head IMO/IME. So how did you compare particularly, just your sonic memory?

 

[j_garcia]

I don't ascribe a sound to any of my players (or most all electronics for that matter). It's mostly in the consumer's head IMO/IME. So how did you compare particularly, just your sonic memory?

I had the ability to have 2 at a time each time I upgraded, stereo analog. No calibration changes or level matching. I think you know me enough by now to know I am not from the camp of "louder" is better.

Jazz at the Pawnshop is a little boring, but it sounds amazing. I don't usually listen to the whole thing, vs. the Patricia Barber albums, where I usually throw it in and listen to all of it.

 

[lovinthehd]

I had the ability to have 2 at a time each time I upgraded, stereo analog. No calibration changes or level matching. I think you know me enough by now to know I am not from the camp of "louder" is better.

Jazz at the Pawnshop is a little boring, but it sounds amazing. I don't usually listen to the whole thing, vs. the Patricia Barber albums, where I usually throw it in and listen to all of it.

No level matching and sighted makes it a much less interesting a comparison, tho. I don't know you that well either but YMMV. Seems like a waste to stick to just 2ch output, tho.....but I'd take a Patricia Barber recording over JatP any day Did you input each players' pre-outs directly to power amp to eliminate other factors?

 

[j_garcia]

No level matching and sighted makes it a much less interesting a comparison, tho. I don't know you that well either but YMMV. Seems like a waste to stick to just 2ch output, tho.....but I'd take a Patricia Barber recording over JatP any day Did you input each players' pre-outs directly to power amp to eliminate other factors?

OK, you know my style of thinking relative to audio lol? I don't buy into snake oil. I was a little disappointed when I got the 205 and compared to the 105 because the difference was minimal. I kept the 205 because I intended to go 4K. In these days of streaming, it is now rare that I buy and listen to discs, whether movie or music.

 

[lovinthehd]

OK, you know my style of thinking relative to audio lol? I don't buy into snake oil. I was a little disappointed when I got the 205 and compared to the 105 because the difference was minimal. I kept the 205 because I intended to go 4K. In these days of streaming, it is now rare that I buy and listen to discs, whether movie or music.

Not particularly, I know we bought the same sub at one point I'm not saying its snake oil particularly, but rather expectation bias to an extent. Just hearing "differences" isn't particularly meaningful either. Do you still have the Oppo convert all audio for you? Or just use it as pre-amp? If I didn't have discs I'd see no point to the Oppo particularly...especially the 205 (except as a cash cow perhaps these days).

 

[mono-bloc]

Jazz at the Pawnshop, would seem to be the standard SACD disc used by most people to trial there SACD player. I've used the Marantz SA-KI, Pearl, but really you can't go past Oppo regardless of model. Apart from owning a 95 and a 105 I also own a vintage DV-981HD https://www.cnet.com/reviews/oppo-dv-981hd-review/layer

 

[j_garcia]

I had a 970 which died and they replaced it with a 980. I had the 83SE and currently have the 105 and 205. At the time, my friend worked there so I got a decent discount on the 105 and 205.