Sony DVPNS3100ES ES DVD / Super Audio CD Player BLACK

• Frequency Response - DVD (PCM96kHz) - 2Hz to 44kHz (-2dB+-1dB at 44kHz) / DVD (PCM48kHz) - 2Hz to 22kHz (+-0.5dB) / SACD - 2Hz to 100 kHz (-3dB at 40kHz) / CD - 2Hz to 20kHz (+-0.5dB)
• Decode Formats - 5.1 Dolby Digital and 5.1 dts
• Connections - Component Video Outputs - 1 / S-Video Output - 2 (Gold) / Composite Video Output - 2 (Gold) / HDMI - 1 / Digital Audio Output - Coaxial - 1 (Gold); Optical - 1 / 5.1ch Analog Audio Output - 1 (Gold) / 2ch Analog Audio Output - 2 (Gold) / Control-S
• Quick Setup
• Custom Setup (with Confirmation Function)

I was in the market for an SACD player after my Sony DVP-NS500V stopped seeing the SACD layer on hybrid discs. I could plunk $150 into repairing it, or into a new system. I read reviews on various units, and the Pioneer DV-578A-S for $100 sounded great. When I compared it to the DVP-NS500V however, the spatial resolution and tone quality sounded more like a CD. I suspect this is one of the machines that has a chip to convert the DSD data into 96KHz PCM for D/A conversion. Sony/Philips were fools to allow such downsampling in their DSD licensing; it dilutes the DSD/SACD trademark. Someone should initiate a class action suit or legislation to protect consumers.

The Denon DVD-1920 was a candidate, but I discovered that it converts the DSD data to 192KHz PCM for the Burr-Brown 24/192 Audio DACs. This shouldn't be allowed.

I found my way back to Sony, with the new DVP-NS3100ES. It is in their high-end ES consumer line, but not their budget busting DVP-NS9100ES.

The sound is much better than on the Sony DVP-NS500V. It is breathtaking in its clarity and realism and spatial detail. The RCA Living Stereo reissue of Heifetz playing Beethoven's Violin Concerto has, in this DSD technology, better sound that Hilary Hahn gets from DGG's 96k recording fifty years later.

My early production unit has a firmware glitch that causes occasional 1 second pauses in SACD playback. I need to get it back to a Sony Service Center, but the generous 5 year warrantee gives me plenty of time to do it.

Buy Sony DVPNS3100ES ES DVD / Super Audio CD Player BLACK Now

(2008 HOLIDAY TEAM)If you've gotten this far, then you've read the technical specifications and they are state-of-the-art. This is one of the best SACD players on the market and SONY knows it stuff in this department. I love this player, as there are very few buttons to learn to use and the player remembers everything! If you take a movie out and place it back, it actually remembers where you left off! The only drawback is that it takes a few seconds longer than most players to recognize the format, but that is such a small price to pay!