Absolute best source?

[kennyt]

deacongreg,

I don't recall which player they had @ HE2007, they were demoing it with their new speakers and I was pretty underimpressed by the room.

I actually bought a DV-50 and then had the 's' upgrade ($500 wasted now as 480p video by DVI-D is dated) a few years ago, it's a solid player and though I've thought of selling it, it would cost me a fortune to replace it, so it stays around. Sometimes when I am listening, I will use it for it's accuracy, sometimes I am just lazy and don't want to have to look if a disc is DVD-A or SACD......

[deacongreg]

Originally Posted by kennyt

deacongreg,

I don't recall which player they had @ HE2007, they were demoing it with their new speakers and I was pretty underimpressed by the room.

I actually bought a DV-50 and then had the 's' upgrade ($500 wasted now as 480p video by DVI-D is dated) a few years ago, it's a solid player and though I've thought of selling it, it would cost me a fortune to replace it, so it stays around. Sometimes when I am listening, I will use it for it's accuracy, sometimes I am just lazy and don't want to have to look if a disc is DVD-A or SACD......

Yes, the room was pretty bad. Its amazin to me with that level of equipment, that..... Anyway, its understandable that indeed it is a great thing to not have to worry about what type of disc is in your dvd/cd player. I would hold on to it if I were you. Great build and excellent quality. They should make an all in one dvd/cd player that also plays HD DVD`s.
That then, would be the player of choice. In my humble opinion.

[kennyt]

... and Blu-ray

[Ken S]

Originally Posted by kennyt

deacongreg,

I don't recall which player they had @ HE2007, they were demoing it with their new speakers and I was pretty underimpressed by the room.

I actually bought a DV-50 and then had the 's' upgrade ($500 wasted now as 480p video by DVI-D is dated) a few years ago, it's a solid player and though I've thought of selling it, it would cost me a fortune to replace it, so it stays around. Sometimes when I am listening, I will use it for it's accuracy, sometimes I am just lazy and don't want to have to look if a disc is DVD-A or SACD......

Kennyt,

I thought of upgrading my DV-50 to the S version (DVI-D), but I felt it wasn't worth the investment. The DV-50 was purchased with the intention of being a music only source. The player's video portion is used for set-up only. I have not heard a better player for listening to CD, SACD and DVD-A, without spending an arm and a leg. I'm keeping it (probably forever) for my primary audio source. My next purchase will be a Hi-Res video player and I'm not sure whether it will be Blu-Ray or HD-DVD. If there was a decent Hi-Res video player that played both formats then I would probably opt for that.

[kennyt]

Ken S,

First off Great name dude!!!

Nice system BTW! My brother has the KSA-250s, awesome amp.

While there is a player that does both (LG) it is $1199 retail and though I've not had it to play with, I hear rumors it is really a one format player that can spin the other, but not very well, add the cost and you could buy one player for each format for the same price and have added flexibility.

As for the upgrade, I did it when the DV-50 was brand new to this country and a scaled (WOW to 480p??) video output was a big deal and as I had a DLP RPTV, I wanted the DVI-D out. FF a few years, the 's' upgrade is almost worthless, but for a few years I did have better video....

[Butch]

The absolute best source? I once heard a Musical Fidelity player run through a Conrad Johnson 40W integrated tube amp driving a pair of horn speakers that sounded about as good as anything I've ever listened to. In fact, it was the first time I've ever heard a horn speaker that didn't rip my ears off. Living in Oklahoma doesn't afford me much chance to audition many of the higher end players. In fact, the shop that had this equipment closed its doors a while back narrowing my opportunities even more.

I'm left reading forums and websites looking for reviewers whose tastes (and budget) seem to parallel mine. And then to the internet I go. I'm currently using a Marantz DV9600 which pleases me just fine. I yearn to hear an Esoteric X-03, but alas, circuit city doesn't have them.