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Marantz SA-15 vs Sony SCD-XA9000ES vs ????

I'm in the market for a new CD/SACD player in this price/quality range. Unfortunately, none of my local dealers carry either of these players. I've done the usual searches, read the reviews (including some in German). Most of the SA-15 reviews compare it (favorably) to the SA-11.

However, I haven't yet read a review (only a couple of asylum posts) comparing the SA-15 to the XA777ES/XA9000ES in 2ch mode -- both redbook and SACD. Most of my collection is redbook, so that's very important to me. Has anyone compared these? What were your impressions?

My system is 2ch only. Herron preamp, Herron phono stage, VPI Aries 2 turntable, Paradigm Active 40 speakers. I've been very happy with this setup. As my digital source, I'm currently using a highly modified Toshiba SD-9200 that sounds better to me than anything I've listened to before (Perpetual P3a, SCD-C555ES, Ack Dack, Rotels, and recent Musical Fidelity $1500 CD player). I obviously don't want to take a step back (in redbook) in moving to the SA-15 or XA777ES/XA9000ES. I could keep my modded 9200 for redbook, but it seems a shame to spend this kind of money on something that doesn't do redbook any better.

One other option would be to purchase a DVP-NS999ES or something similar and mod it. I'm handy with a soldering iron (I modded the 9200). However, I like the idea of the dedicated CD/SACD players.

Thanks for any comments/comparisons.
Curt




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Topic - Marantz SA-15 vs Sony SCD-XA9000ES vs ???? - csig 13:58:25 05/31/06 (4)


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