Must audition SACD players?

[skazz]

I've come to the conclusion that it's time to start looking round for an SACD player. Yes, the format may or may not survive, but since I'm mostly a classical listener I actually already have a number of hybrid discs so the thought of playing them via the SACD layer is beginning to get tempting.

Now, I'll definitely be sticking to pure stereo for the foreseeable future, so the idea of a great CD player which also does SACD is very tempting, but not compulsory if there is a universal player which is just as good for the price.

What should I be considering in the 1000-2000 pound price range?

Currently I only really have the Marantz SA-15/11 on my list... Please help me out with some more ideas!

 

[CJROSS]

Skazz I run a separate SACD system and DVD-A stereo only systems both with very nice players in decent systems, but If I had to buy another SACD tomorrow, I'd kill a few birds with one very big stone :

http://www.soundstage.com/revequip/esoteric_dv50.htm

These go from £1300-1700, for a £3995 rrp machine, your getting a lot more of processing and machine than the highly rated Marantz (IMHO).

 

[rozzar]

teac- good choice.

Pioneers (such as the dv989i) are also very good but not really in the same league (or price band!) as the teac

 

[skazz]

thanks for the comments. Trouble is I'm in the netherlands not UK, and the second hand market I've found so far seems pretty different from the UK one. Definitely not anywhere near as much to be found, and I reckon there's less depreciation here as well.

Assuming finding specific second hand kit is much harder, what new options do I have in my price range?

 

[rozzar]

i'm sure if you point out the competitive postage rates from the likes of interparcel.com, you won't have a problem getting stuff from the likes of UK ebay over to Netherlands. I've shipped stuff out there for less than £19

New equipment will depreciate so much it makes little sense unless its discounted.
Do bear in mind that universal blu-ray/hd-dvd players will be out before too long though so prices of universal dvd-a/sacd/dvd players will take a bit of a dive.

Possibly