My new toy arrived today.  It's a universal player that plays all discs except BD or HD-DVD.  I bought on Ebay a display model with a plexiglass top to show the guts of the player.  Real cool.  CD's sound great with analog 2 channel.  The Wolfson DACS on board are light years better than those on board my BD player or HD-DVD player.  Have not listen to with a digital coax yet to let my Onkyo receiver do the DA converting.  I am moving my HD-DVD player to my bedroom  and will use the Onkyo player in my main system for all discs except BD.  This player is a tank weighing in at 26.7 pounds.  Overbuilt is an understatement.  It is a discontinued model that can be found new or used for $300.00 to $500.00.  I won the bid for $299.00 with shipping.  Anyone know a good place to find SACD's or DVD Audio discs? 

Another picture.

Another one next to Marantz.

Big gut shot.

Very cool-looking one-of-a-kind unit!

Nice looking unit.  The SP1000 is an assume player too if you are into DVD-A or SACDs.  I don't have one, but I hear the video playback is excellent too.

etc6849:

I don't have one, but I hear the video playback is excellent too.

You are correct.  The video is just shy of spectacular.  I worked in the yard all day yesterday in 95 degree/90% humidity and chose not to go with family and friends to see fireworks last night.  Glad I didn't because my wife said the crowds were crazy and they really did not enjoy themselves.  During my time alone, I watched "Master and Commander" on plain ole DVD and was blown away by the visual clarity and reg. DTS 5.1 sounded as good as DTSMA.  I have been using my Toshiba HD-A30 for reg. DVD's(which upconverts very well) until now.  This Onkyo has permanantly replaced it for DVD's and CD's.  I can't wait to get a couple of DVD-A's and SACD's and try them out.

Bill

I would recommend trying DVD-A.  There is a difference in terms of mastering and some DVD-A discs have the sub channel 10-15dB too high.

The best mastering I have heard is on Eagles - Hotel California DVD-A.  The disc is hard to find and probably +$50 though.  By far the best multi channel audio I have heard though.

If you want a cheaper album that's excellent too buy this DVD-A:  Eric Clapton and BB King: Riding with the King.  I listen to this album the most, but the Eagles ablum is arguably one of the best DVD-A in terms of mastering.