Do you think this is true?

[Mr Peabody]

I was chatting with an acquaintance who is a sales person at a shop that carries some high end gear and he mentioned during our conversation that he had noticed that in the cd/sacd/dvd-a hybrid players that cd reproduction seemed not as good as one would expect for the price paid for the unit. I took him to mean that not as much quality was put into the cd section of the hybrid units as maybe the sacd section. I know that when DVD players came on the market manufacturers were forced to include cd playback and cd playback was very entry level in most cases. Could this be the case with the hybrids? Maybe this is intentional in case format comparisons took place? Is it true at all?

[mtrycraft]

I was chatting with an acquaintance who is a sales person at a shop that carries some high end gear and he mentioned during our conversation that he had noticed that in the cd/sacd/dvd-a hybrid players that cd reproduction seemed not as good as one would expect for the price paid for the unit. I took him to mean that not as much quality was put into the cd section of the hybrid units as maybe the sacd section. I know that when DVD players came on the market manufacturers were forced to include cd playback and cd playback was very entry level in most cases. Could this be the case with the hybrids? Maybe this is intentional in case format comparisons took place? Is it true at all?

The chips to accopmlish the multi functions are dime a dozzen, well engineered as it is not cutting edge by a long shot.

But, you can always do a DBT comparison and know.

[hifitommy]

I was chatting with an acquaintance who is a sales person at a shop that carries some high end gear and he mentioned during our conversation that he had noticed that in the cd/sacd/dvd-a hybrid players that cd reproduction seemed not as good as one would expect for the price paid for the unit. I took him to mean that not as much quality was put into the cd section of the hybrid units as maybe the sacd section. I know that when DVD players came on the market manufacturers were forced to include cd playback and cd playback was very entry level in most cases. Could this be the case with the hybrids? Maybe this is intentional in case format comparisons took place? Is it true at all?

with the sony ns500v. if my experience is similar to anybody elses, your dealer is full of a well known substance. not only is the sacd performance very nice, the rbcd performance is superior to any player that i have had in the house. the price i paid for the sony was $169 delivereed. not as much as i would have thought for the performance of the unit.

[nightflier]

I have to agree with hifitommy. I bought a Sony ns755 SACD/DVD player almost two years ago and I have yet to find something to complain about. I paid $199, which at the time was a steal; generally I consider Sony to be mallware, but this player is like the energizer bunny.

Sound quality using DBTs is as good as my Cambridge Audio CD player, albeit a little brighter, but I actually like that. Build quality may appear consumer-grade, but nothing has malfunctioned yet. Ironically, this was not one of their big sellers, maybe 'cause it looks like any other DVD player out there and doesn't have the ES designation. Overall, I've been very happy with this player.

[kexodusc]

This guy is almost as bad as the Best Buy salesperson I talked to on the weekend. He tried telling me I should NEVER use a combo player, spewing off some crap about 1 function, 1 component, so I don't lose CD capability when my DVD-A player is in the shop.
I responded by asking him how often these are in the shop and how often it takes to get them fixed...and whether a week or two of possible inconvenience is worth dropping $600 for redundant components.

I borrowed the Pioneer 563a SACD/DVD-A player for about a few weeks awhile back when my friend was on vacation. I was really impressed at how well this cheap unit performed. It certainly didn't compromise cd playback when I used it. Someday I might get around to buying one.