I just found a deal on a Yamaha that was far too good to pass up. A SA-CD player from Amazon. It actually has some pretty darn good ratings and is only $249. I do not in an way expect it to compete against any of these other excellent spinners that we have been talking about.
Honestly, I am not expecting to use it a lot, but just wanted to give SA-CD a try. At this price I can play a little and not worry about sinking a ton of money into something that I may not even use hardly at all.
Here is an example user review, I read many that pretty much said the same thing so I figure why not for only $249
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"I am very pleased with this Yamaha BD-S677BL Blu-Ray Player. I am NOT using it for playing Blu-ray discs or DVDs. I am using it strictly as an audio player for Super Audio CDs.
I believe that some people may think that my reason for purchasing this device is silly but, if you're interested, please read on.
I have three audio systems. One is a home theater, used primarily for movies but also, on occasion, for music; another is an "all-purpose" system, used mostly for music, but also for movies; and the last (really the first) is an audio-only system.
In my two music/movie systems, I now have Oppo BDP-93s. These, of course, play Blu-rays, DVDs, CDs, AND Super Audio CDs.
I formerly had three Sony SCD-CE595 5-Disc CD/Super Audio CD Player (Discontinued by Manufacturer), ALL OF WHICH have "died" (in less than ten years!). (In recent years, I have lost a great deal of faith in Sony products.) Two of these were in the aforementioned systems and one was in my main audio system.
I have a fair collection of SACDs but, after the Sonys "died," I had no means to play them in my main audio system.
I should mention that my associated audio equipment is a Hafler DH-101 pre-amplifier, a Hafler HD-200 power amplifier, and a pair of Klipschorn loudspeakers.
Recently I began to investigate SACD players for use in that system.
This Yamaha player is the least-costly high-quality player I could find which will play SACDs.
I ordered it, it arrived, I unpacked it, and placed it in my system.
Note that there is no video monitor in this system; it is audio only.
I turned on my pre-amp, amp, and the Yamaha.
I placed an SACD in the tray and pressed "Play."
The drawer closed, and, on the display, the word "SACD" appeared.
But nothing happened. I repeatedly pressed "Play" on both the device itself as well as on the remote control.
Still nothing happened.
I turned everything off, waited ten minutes, and tried again, with similar results.
At that point, I removed the small video monitor from within my home theater (I use it to preview what is going to be displayed) and attached it via an HDMI cable to this player.
AH HA! One must "Set Up" the player - selecting the language and the display parameters of the video monitor you wish to use - prior to any use. (Please note that you must do this only once, the first time you use the player; after that, it "remembers" what you have chosen.)
I did this setup, removed the video monitor and put it back where it belonged, and inserted an SACD.
Wow!
I have to tell you that I haven't heard an SACD through my main system in over a year (which was when the Sony "died') but it is my opinion that this Yamaha "blows the Sony out of the water!"
If you haven't heard SACDs, well, you don't know what you're missing!
I am going to use this player strictly for SACD playback (which is why I entitled this review "An Audio Review ... "). I cannot comment on video performance, Blu-ray disc loading time, etc., etc., etc.
I can only comment on its audio performance, specifically with SACDs.
It is superb. That is the only word I can use to describe the sound produced.
If you have need for an SACD player, I believe you could buy nothing better than this one and I HIGHLY recommend it to you.
As I stated at the beginning of this review, I am very pleased with this product.
Thank you for reading this and for considering my opinions."
