SACDP to pair with creek(obh11+obh2) + senn hd600

[Rameish 0]

Charismatic,

 

I think most of it has been said already. But please note that SACD recordings - like all other recodrings matter - so to get an SACD player just because there are a few SACD titles that you like is looking for trouble because these SACD players are in their relative infancy and in 1 - 3 years you'll get players that cost half as much and sound 50% better with SACD software prices dropping. This is true of all things but especially so when the tech is relative new. CD players are at the mature sage whilest vinyl is near its final stages (I think/believe) and has maybe 10-15 years to go before it becomes completly obsolete.

 

My suggestion is upgrade the CDP first. You need a source to resolve the details. If you decide to keep the Senn HD-600 then go for an amp like the X-Cans or Corda HA-1 (MKI or MkII). Both versions are still available. The Corda is a tad warm while the X-Cans are a tad bright. Corda has crossfeed (if that's important to you).

 

A simple solution to all this is bring your Marantz 5000 and Creek over and trust your ears - please make an appointment :-) You can then tell by comparing that with the Marantz 6000 OSE and then go 1 up with the Rotel 971 (The Rotel has more rez than the Marantz 6000 OSE while the Marantz 6000 OSE is warmer but has a top end edginess to it). So you might want to go for the Marantz CD17 (mkIII). Having decided that. You next stop will be to decide if you wish to keep the Creek, switch to the X-Cans or go with the Corda HA-1. Then, you can decide if you want to keep the Senn HD-600 go with the Beyer DT-880 or pick up a Grado SR-225 or SR-325. BTW I just go the Beyer DT-880 but it's being burnt in right now.

 

Sounds long winded but all can be accomplished in half a day or so.

 

Don't worry. You don't have to buy anything. I don't sulk when people don't buy LOL. Of course I do like selling amps, headphones etc. BTW for me this is just turning a passion into a small extra income business so I can afford to take it easy.

 

Don't get me wrong on the headphone part: The Senn HD-600 are in the "good headphone division" unfortunately they are near the bottom of that premier division IMHO (in my humble opinion).

 

I will second Mackie on Kimber SS. 90% of my cables are Kimber. I have 3 Kimber power Cords, 1 Kimber Select KS-1030 , 1 Kimber Select KS-1020 (older model), Kimber TAK AG (for turntable), 2 Kimber Silver Streaks (different WBT connectors - topline and midline, 1 PBJ. Also have a Wireworld Polaris III, and a Grado Signature (in short - Cables do matter). VERY IMP: If you wish to go with Silver Cables make sure they are 99.9999% pure. I have a Russ Andrews Newsletter that states this in no uncertain terms. The 99.95% stuff sounds worse than plain 99.9999% copper IC (inter connects). If you use 99.95% silver the sound will be hard and brittle sounding. BTW Silver takes forever to run in. I suggest you send it to Music By Design who will charge you a small fee to burn in your silver cable. They have a Cable Cooker - They also sell some good cables (besides the Grado that is).

 

 

[Mackie 0]

I dont think so as the launch is delayed in Asia. US/Europe have priority over us. Area51 was banned in Xtreme? Didn't know that.....

[ablaze 0]

mackie: yeah. apparently he masqueraded as an Xtremeplace moderator to obtain the power buy from Philips..then the mods found out

[Mackie 0]

ablaze: Oh my.... cheeky. At least, I'm not masquerading as a moderator to arrange a power buy here.

[ablaze 0]

or ARE you lol. kidding..

[Mackie 0]

No need wor......offer from a relative....what more can 1 ask for except for some dim sum meals when I'm back in HK? kekekeke

[tee 0]

Met with Philips' product manager this evening. 963A DVD/SACD player has been launched in S'pore at about S$1k, with mod version to be made available later on for upgrading enthusiasts thru' separate websites (not Philips' but in a style similar to Nelson's upgrade website for MSB Link III DAC). Will update you later. Meanwhile, for the benefit of Charismatic and ablaze, i have found an interesting review/article on this new product.

 

Review reprinted below courtesy of Mr Anthony Lim in Malaysia :

 

PERCEPTIONS again. Despite Philips’ excellent consumer product form in recent times, I haven’t really been drawn into the game. Never have, really. The truth is, I’ve never bought – if you discount the non-audio/video purchase of a hairdryer of 10 years ago – a Philips product. Strange, actually, given that the Dutch multi- national is cutting edge in terms of technology and innovation these days, but it as, and please don’t fall off your chair in laughter, all to do with light bulbs.

 

Okay, so it may be part parochial, but a lot of it has to do with the subconscious. Things you latch on to at an early age tend to stick in your head long after the music has stopped. Still, it’s been chipped away at slowly, this, with the host of Philips products I’ve reviewed over the years reworking the brand’s stock in my eyes – you might even say that it’s all been all rather, err, illuminating.

 

The arrival of the DVD 963SA DVD/SACD player a couple of months ago, depending on how things shape up, may finally change all that. This is the machine that has finally exorcised old opinions; in fact, you could even say it’s provided a whole new insight in lighting up one’s life, metaphorically, that is.

 

Serious ambitions

 

Claimed to have serious “audiophile†aspirations, with as much attention paid to its sonic as well as its video qualities, the Hungarian-made DVD 963SA is very well built. This is the best Philips machine I’ve come across in terms of construction; like the earlier, and more expensive, SACD 1000, the build quality inspires confidence, with a solidity in feel that’s apparent not just to the touch, but visually as well. Attention to vibration isolation has been paid – the stiffened chassis on the 4.6kg unit features a double bottom plate.

 

Located on the brushed aluminium fascia is a centrally mounted disc drawer, seated below the LED display panel. Ten buttons dot the scape, power on/standby on the left, a group of six on the right (play, pause, stop, track skip forward/ reverse, repeat), a drawer open/close button and two smaller switch buttons located on both sides of the display panel (Sound Mode and Audio Direct, the latter a bypass switch to turn off all video circuitry, providing optimal sound quality). Two small blue LEDs help denote that upsampling and progressive scan operation is engaged.

 

The unit’s built-in multi-channel decoders provide full decoding of Dolby Digital, dts and MPEG, and the Philips plays DVD-Video,

multi-channel SACD, Video CD, CD, CD-R/RW and ISO 9660-format MP3 discs. DVD-Audio is naturally missing, what with Philips’ continuing commitment to SACD. How this exclusion weighs up depends on your perception on whether DVD-Audio is important; I think it’s about time to go universal, like how Pioneer have done it with their higher-end machines.

 

Still, there’s a host of features and tech marvels to offset this omission, and then some. The unit features a dual laser pickup, one optimised for DVD playback, the other for CD. This isn’t new (both Pioneer and Sony have done it), but it’s a nice thing to have – the added promise is a longer laser life with this configuration.

 

Specs include a 24-bit/192kHz audio DAC, a spanking 13-bit/ 108MHz video DAC and a new Faroudja DCDi (Directional Correlation Deinterlacing) chipset. To further reinforce the 963SA’s “audiophile†ambitions, the unit features the use of 12 discrete Class-A op-amps and fully separate analogue and digital processors and circuitry. Of note is a CD upsampling feature, which allows a 44.1kHz/16-bit Red Book signal to be digitally processed to a higher sampling rate; users can choose from 96kHz or 192kHz/24-bit. It’s a nifty trick in use, this one.

 

On the video front, Digital Crystal Clear video adjustment allows adjustment of chroma delay, gamma correction, sharpness and toggling DCDi on/off; the latter works by computing and tracking edge angles and fills in missing pixels on the screen. The claim is significantly improved image quality, especially during slow motion playback.

 

 

At the rear, output connections consist of a 5.1-ch multi-channel and a separate 2-ch stereo analogue output, while digital outs consist of a coaxial and an optical. A Y Pb/Cb Pr/Cr output (with a small switch to select from progressive and interlaced operation), a S-Video and two composite video outs make up the video side of things. Another nice touch is the detachable IEC power cord receptacle.

 

It’s all in the picture (and sound)

 

The DVD 963SA ran in the HT system consisting of a Panasonic Tau 29-inch TV, Pioneer DV-S755Ai, DV-515 and Sony DVP-S3000 DVD players, Camelot Dragon digital interface/Octave Etude 24/96 DAC and a Denon AVC-A1D AV amplifier (with an Exposure XVII /Robertson Audio Forty Ten2 pre-power combo and Thule Spirit IA150B integrated handling stereo runs). Two speakers systems were employed, the resident Magnepan SMGb main/Signet LCR centre/Unity Audio CLA3 rears alternating with an Accuracy A-3.0S/A-C1.0/A-S1.0 setup. Cabling was the usual mix of AudioQuest, Wireworld, Kimber Kable and Audio Magic wiring.

 

Setting up the player was easy enough – I’ve gotten used to the Philips set-up menus by now, and while not the smoothest interface in terms of navigation, it’s easy to work with, so nothing to complain about. Initial link-ups had the unit with its digital output feeding the Denon and the two-channel stereo output to handle CD, later on progressing to the multi-channel outputs (to both access SACD and work the onboard DD/dts decoders); video was via component cabling throughout.

 

Now, I mentioned at the beginning of the review that the DVD 963SA has changed the way I looked at all things Philips. It has, and quite literally at that. With DVD, the Philips is, quite simply, superb. In fact, it’s more than a match for the other big ticket, the Pioneer DV-S755Ai, in this department, and you’d really have to toss a coin to choose from the two when it comes to picture quality. Both are shining examples of how 12-bit/108MHz (or 13-bit on the case of the Philips) video processing is the defining focal point for DVD-Video at the moment. It’s not just in terms of definition and detail, but the silkiness of the overall picture, extended depth perspective and ease on the eye that works the magic. Really, excellent doesn’t begin to describe it – 10/54 is definitely less dimensional and less well scoped, and

10/27, simply etched.

 

Sure, there are differences in how both go about tailoring things, but they are rather minute, and you really have to be looking very hard. Side by side, with their on-board video processing turned as way down as possible, both machines are twins in a two-horse race; I had two friends over to help out with double-blind A-B testing, and the issue had to be resolved going into very fine details.

 

Primarily, the Pioneer shades it in the colour department, having slightly better colour contrast integrity, and as such, overall rendition aspects (both machines have excellent, and fundamentally accurate, colour palette registration though). In its basest form, the Philips’ pix is a scale brighter, and this lends it a somewhat keener, vibrant feel, lively as the Pioneer is warm, but like I said, these are really small, almost imperceptible differences, easily levelled out when digital video adjustment is called into play. My vote? With the Pioneer, but it’s very close.

 

Sonically though, it’s the other way round, with the Philips just winging it. Its 16/44.1 performance is undoubtedly strong, with a slightly

different presentation tilt than the Pioneer (its perspective is more relaxed, and it’s tonally less incisive), though it’s not here, but on

upsampling, that the neat tricks are turned. It doesn’t always work, and you can sometimes catch out the digital-based manipulation for

what it is (especially if you’re out of the sweet spot or close to the speaker), but when it does (and it does for the most part; the better

the recording, the sweeter the returns) the results are pretty catchy.

 

Generally, the presentation is more open, specifically “adding†more perceived depth, air and space around instruments. While not quite

MSB territory, it’s an interesting addition to have.

 

The solid returns follow through with both two and multi-channel SACD, a run on the latter with a Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra

(with Hartmut Haenchen conducting) version of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No.5 proving particularly rewarding; organic and compelling

would best describe it.

 

 

You’ll have all the control you need with the DVD 963SA’s remote.

 

 

Downsides? There are really only three (if you discount the omission of DVD-Audio capability), these being a continued persistence in not

providing a drawer open/ close button on the remote (which is similar to the earlier DVD 956), no jog dial on the latter and a scan

start/stop interface (again, on the remote) that’s a little sticky in use.

 

There are supposed to be three speeds (4, 8 and 32x) for forward/ reverse scan, but only 4 and 32x is available as you scroll directly; the

bugbear, however, is the slow reaction time of the interface – in 32x mode, pressing to resume play will inevitably mean you’ll overshoot

the intended stop. Time for a new remote, Philips ….

 

Going Dutch, delightfully

 

Ah, but small tentacles on the remote do not a squid make. In every operational aspect that counts, the Philips DVD 963SA reels it all in

easy squeezy. Make no mistake about it (to sort of paraphrase a president), this is one heck of a player, with enough in it to more than

rival the Pioneer. This begs the burning question, now that I’m shopping for a frontline player to replace the ageing DV-515 and

DVP-S3000 – which one to choose? Both have their little niggly cons, so the truth is, I really have no idea. We shall see. In the meantime,

this one comes recommended.

 

For: Excellent DVD pix, and audio performance right up there too; upsampling a real boon; in all, a class act worth the asking price.

 

Against: Scan access doesn’t stop on a dime; still no drawer open button; err, no DVD-Audio?

[tee 0]

Hi ablaze and charismatic,

 

You can now audition the DVD 963SA at New Disc Village on 3rd floor Adelphi. Price is S$899. The sound is quite impressive although the soundstage didn't exactly give the 3D effect, esp on the depth. Maybe it has not been run-in or it could be due to the amp matching (Prestine).