Pioneer DV444 - Will it play DVD-A's?

[Shakey]

I bought into the DVD 24/96 thing when I read Classic and Others were promoting it. Never saw too many releases I wanted so I didn't invest much into software.
My question is will this thing play DVD-A's?

[Sckott]

It has a 192KHz/24-bit burr-brown DAC onboard, and will do the Classic Recs DVD-A's without downsampling. Will it play the 2-channel mix in DVD-A? No.

It WILL do DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes on both DVD's and DVD-A's though.

Also, this player is quite "neet" in it's prospects, being region free and Macrovision© free. Check this site:
http://store.bluelaser.com/PioneerDV440CF.htm

[Shakey]

Thanks for the reply.
I don't know if it makes a difference but my player is the DV444 and not the DV440 as in the link.
I was interested in knowing if this unit down samples the CD's to play and if that causes problems since 192/96 doesn't factor evenly into 44.1, or does it approach differently? I read in an older stereophile this could potentially degrade CD sound at the get go. This was an old one back when they were still arguing on standards.
Not that I use this to play CD's as I have a Sonic Frontiers SFCD-1 and regarding the present DVD player, I am going to look for a universal SACD/DVD player that is considered above average.
Where should I start looking for information on this?
Thanks again

[Sckott]

You're going to find that MOST DVD players serve up a CD better than a dedicated CD player in the same price range. The DAC on board is much more sophisicated, even the cheapie ol' ESS chippies that do the work, will actually bring suprising results.

You'll find many, MANY A/V magazines that will give you the skinny on low, mind and high range (like MCIntosh) DVD players. I would really go there. The better reviews are not always on the net. You'll be suprised how reviewers view the sound as more than 1/2 of the experience to be vital.

However, I woulnd't just remove that SF CD player from your sight just yet. It's considered to be one of the best CD Players out there. You may find this player you're scoping out to be quite a contender.

http://www.audioreview.com/CD+Players/Sonic+Frontiers+SFCD-1/PRD_127876_1587crx.aspx

You'll notice though, one reviewer says "Poor CD quality". Not sure if you could take that for gospel...

I made sure it wasn't the DV440 this time. :)

[Metralla]

Originally posted by Shakey
I am going to look for a universal SACD/DVD player that is considered above average.
Good luck. But if you really do find one, please let us know.

Regards,
Metralla

[Shakey]

Thanks Sckott. The online reviews from that place are as you mentioned not up to the commercial ones.
Metralla, I sense you think that this quest is not attainable. I suppose I probably agree, I get a headache comparing all this Hi-Rez BS and truthfully I already own Hi-Rez, my analog front end.
I'll probably just use the pioneer for DVD, SFCD1 for CD and my LP12 for the truth. Maybe I'll buy a cheap SACD so I might play those new discs and wait some years for SACD to mature and when some good used ones hit the market, like I did with the SFCD1, buy it just when they come up with another format. But I'll still have the Linn.
Thanks
Terry