Bought my first SACD player on Sunday---Sony DVP-NC650V

[JohnnyK]

After reading all the discussions about SACD on the forum. I decided to jump into the water last Sunday. I bought a Sony DVP-NC650V. It originally retailed for about $350. Circuit City was selling it for $275, but I purchased it new at Best Buy for $199.

The DVP-NC650V is a five-disc carousel changer that can play CD, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-Videos, and stereo or multi-channel SACD--in fact, you can load any combination of formats into the changer. It also has Bass Management for SACD. The damn thing comes has so many features that it has a 100 page (all English)instruction manual!

· change 4 discs while the 5th keeps playing
· plays DVD-Video discs, CDs, stereo and multichannel SACDs, and audio CD-Rs & CD-RWs
· 27MHz/10-bit video DAC
· 192kHz/24-bit audio D/A converter
· twin lasers
· bass management for multi-channel SACD
· built-in Dolby Digital/DTS decoding with 5.1-channel output
· optical and coaxial digital outputs for Dolby Digital/DTS/PCM
· Precision Drive motor with dynamic tilt compensation
· 2 sets of A/V outputs (2 composite, 2 S-video, and 1 component video)
· headphone jack with volume control

This unit is replacing a first generation Toshiba DVD player that I bought in 1997 which is connected to a DLP anti-jitter filter and a MSB Link III. The bass management on the SOny is nice since my front speakers are small Linn Tucan mini-monitors. Since my receiver does not have the necessary inputs for playing SACD or DVD-A in surround sound, I play my SACD records in stereo only. The player’s remote has a button that allows you to switch between SACD surround and SACD stereo. It also has a button that switches between a hybrid SACD disc’s SACD layer and its red book layer.

The sound of SACD is amazing! I’ll post my opinions on the quality of SACD on the music forum.

I have not compared the Sony's DAC to my MSB DAC yet. This will take some time.

[Todd Fredericks]

Johnny,

Welcome to the big bad SACD player world!!! Which titles have you listened to so far. Also, do a search but I think (if my memory is working properly today) that using BM will degrade the sonics. I think the DSD signal has to be processed to PCM somewhere in the chain. Do some reading. I may be wrong but make sure...

Todd

[JohnnyK]

Originally posted by Todd Fredericks
Johnny,

Welcome to the big bad SACD player world!!! Which titles have you listened to so far.


What SCAD's do you have?



Also, do a search but I think (if my memory is working properly today) that using BM will degrade the sonics. I think the DSD signal has to be processed to PCM somewhere in the chain. Do some reading. I may be wrong but make sure...

Todd

So far I have 4 SACD's:

Carol King ----Tapestry
Santana----Abraxas
Stones----Hot Rocks
Celine Dion----All the way...a decade of songs

I have never been a fan of Celine Dion, but my wife bought the SACD. I have to tell you, the Celine Dion is absolutly AMAZING!!! The quality of the recording is breathtaking at times! The dynamics are out of this world. Lifelike!!! Of the four SACD's the Celine Dion is the most impressive.


What do you mean by BM? Are you referring to the DLP jitter filter and/or the MSB Link?

[Todd Fredericks]

BM=Bass management. I would do some research on that just to make sure. Again, I may be wrong (it won't be the first or last time for that).

I don't have that Celine but i'm sure it's great!! Maybe the extra resolution is helping you get into the performance a little more? I've found in the past that there were some CD's I could never get into but when I listened to the same album on vinyl, I've been sucked in...

[krabapple]

Originally posted by Todd Fredericks
[B]BM=Bass management. I would do some research on that just to make sure. Again, I may be wrong (it won't be the first or last time for that).

Don't know for sure about the Sony SACD players, but you may be thinking of certain A/V receivers that do BM on hi-rez input by first converting it to PCM, then back to analog.

Whether this really *audibly* 'degrades the sonics' is by no means
proven.

[JohnnyK]

Originally posted by Todd Fredericks
BM=Bass management. I would do some research on that just to make sure. Again, I may be wrong (it won't be the first or last time for that).



The Sony SACD player has a bass management very similar to what is used on a receiver. It offers large, small or none for LF, C, RF, LS and RS. It also lets you set distance and delay for the surrounds. I will read the manual (all 100 pages) to see if the Sony bass management system does anything strange to the signal.

[Richard Feirstein]

Philips held out on BM until it got full DSD chip sets. The new Sony hardware does a good job.

[krabapple]

Originally posted by JohnnyK


The Sony SACD player has a bass management very similar to what is used on a receiver. It offers large, small or none for LF, C, RF, LS and RS. It also lets you set distance and delay for the surrounds. I will read the manual (all 100 pages) to see if the Sony bass management system does anything strange to the signal.

Pretty much all DVD-A and SACD players offer this sort of setting option...but in many cases it only works for Dolby Digital/DTS 5.1 analog output, not the hi-rez
DVD-A or SACD output.

That said, the situation is changing. Apparently the newer Sony SACD players *do* offer such BM for the hi-rez stream. Yours may be one of them.

[Ken_McAlinden]

I have the exact same unit. The bass management does indeed work for SACD unlike some DVD-Audio players. That's one of the reasons I bought it. The drawback for multichannel is that I cannot make any tonal adjustments. My satellite and sub speakers need a decibel or two boost around 3.1KHz to sound right to me in my family room.

One oddity I noticed is that the analog multichannel outputs for DD5.1 and DTS material seems to be at a much lower level than for two channel or SACD multi-channel. Due to the two issues I mentioned above, I usually let my receiver do the DD & DTS decoding on DVDs or DTS CDs.

Regards,

[RetroSmith]

Hey guys...so this player DOES have ANALOG 5.1 Outputs?

If indeed it does, thats not bad at all for 199$....

[JohnnyK]

Originally posted by mikey5967
Hey guys...so this player DOES have ANALOG 5.1 Outputs?

If indeed it does, thats not bad at all for 199$....

Yes, it does have 5.1 analog outputs. It also has composite video out, S-video and component video out. It does not do progressive scan, but neither dies my TV.

[RetroSmith]

Originally posted by JohnnyK


Yes, it does have 5.1 analog outputs. It also has composite video out, S-video and component video out. It does not do progressive scan, but neither dies my TV.

>>>Ahhhhh....no progressive scan. I guess thats where they cut the manufacturing cost.

Well, thats lets its out for me, but I wish you many years of Happy Listening with it.

Best,

Mikey

[Strabo]

Originally posted by JohnnyK
I decided to jump into the water last Sunday. I bought a Sony DVP-NC650V.[/B]

I bought the same one on Thursday, and I too am impressed with it.
I picked up Carol King Tapestry, Louis Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy, and RS Hot Rocks to test it out.
Having listened to the Patricia Barber redbook layers, and the improvement of SACD separately, I am moving the new MoFi's to the top of my must have list, and eagerly waiting for the CCR SACD's.

Question though, does anyone know how to set this thing to only play one disc as a default? I turned off the auto play, but couldn't find an option to set the one/all discs as a default. I know there is a button on the front to select it, but with all the other options this thing has, one would think you could set it up without having to select "one disc" every time you turn the player on.

[Richard Feirstein]

Progressive scan in the player is quickly becoming a non issue. Newer digital sets (not the current basic HDTV from Zenith) do a very credible job of doing the progressive scan conversion on-board. What you will want is the next generation DTV and DVD player with digital video outputs on the HDMI interconnect; it will carry digital SACD and DVD-A streams too. Check back in about 18 months or so. Once this is established HDTV DVD will follow but my crystal ball is a bit glazed over on making a timing prediction.

Richard.

[RetroSmith]

Rich, I cant agree with you that Progressive Scan is becoming a Non Issue. In fact, its just the opposite, consumers are insisting on Progressive Scan as a feature, even on the lower priced decks...wether or not their TVs have a component input...they are looking towards the future when all sets will have it. The Digital interconnects, are, IMHO, at least 2 to three years away. And anything could happen in that time.

[Ken_McAlinden]

Originally posted by mikey5967
Rich, I cant agree with you that Progressive Scan is becoming a Non Issue. In fact, its just the opposite, consumers are insisting on Progressive Scan as a feature, even on the lower priced decks...wether or not their TVs have a component input...they are looking towards the future when all sets will have it. The Digital interconnects, are, IMHO, at least 2 to three years away. And anything could happen in that time.
Mikey,
I think Richard's point is that in "the future" all digital sets will have built in line doublers that will convert interlaced signals to progressive. In fact, it is better if your set can do it well because then you can convert broadcast or cable signals as well as DVD signals to progressive. The Sony DVP-NC650V still has component outputs, it just does not have a built-in line doubler. In addition, if your TV has 2 component inputs, one is usually progressive and the other is interlaced. If your TV can do the conversion, you do not have to worry about whether your digital broadcast signal or your DVD signal has to use the interlaced input.

Most digital sets have built in line doublers today, but the DVD players have tended to have better line-doublers than the TVs. Assuming the TV line doublers are improved, progressive out for DVD could indeed become a non-issue.

Regards,

[Richard Feirstein]

Once digital video output hits the street the TV set will do all the digital video processing. Yep, now that in-the-box DVD progressive scan is getting good and good and cheap it is no longer the killer application; much like in- the-box DTS and DD decoding was a few years ago.

Richard.

[RetroSmith]

>>>Okay, understood!!

[JohnnyK]

Originally posted by Strabo


I bought the same one on Thursday, and I too am impressed with it.
I picked up Carol King Tapestry, Louis Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy, and RS Hot Rocks to test it out.
Having listened to the Patricia Barber redbook layers, and the improvement of SACD separately, I am moving the new MoFi's to the top of my must have list, and eagerly waiting for the CCR SACD's.

Question though, does anyone know how to set this thing to only play one disc as a default? I turned off the auto play, but couldn't find an option to set the one/all discs as a default. I know there is a button on the front to select it, but with all the other options this thing has, one would think you could set it up without having to select "one disc" every time you turn the player on.

I haven't tried this, but did you look on page 40 of the manual? I explaines One disc/All disc.

[mcow1]

Originally posted by Strabo


Question though, does anyone know how to set this thing to only play one disc as a default? I turned off the auto play, but couldn't find an option to set the one/all discs as a default. I know there is a button on the front to select it, but with all the other options this thing has, one would think you could set it up without having to select "one disc" every time you turn the player on.
I've been trying to find how to set defaults for one disk and to not repeat everything when done playing all disks on my Sony 775 too.

[Todd Fredericks]

I see it all as a game. If all these great little functions and bells/whistles were released all at once (instead of staggered) then where would all the fun be? Nothings (as we know) is ever truly "future-proof". Buy the "hottest" computer today and a month later it should be on the set of 'Sanford & Son' (or 'Steptoe & Son'). I guess a good way to score the most points is to just be aware of what's available now and pay attention to the rumors of tomorrow. Leap when you're ready and understand that in a few years you may need to leap again or you won't be a memer of the "in-crowd' (who wants to be anyway??). Here's an interesting story about sometimes waiting too long (there are times when you just got to bite the bullet). A friend of mine in the mid 80's was not ready to get a vcr. He was aware of laserdiscs and decided he would not support home video recording until it can be done on disc. I kept telling that he'll have a long wait and wouldn't it be nice (in Beach Boys harmony) to be able to record some stuff off of TV/etc. at least for the next few years and in the future I'm sure there would be no problem upgrading to a disc recording method (it's like refusing to own/ride/acknowledge a car until they find away of getting rid if the wheels/okay, if you like walking but a drag if you don't have a month to get to the next state). That was in 1985 or so. I haven't spoken to him (he was more of a nut than me) in perhaps over a decade but knowing him, he's still waiting until he "approves" of a "proper" format. I can understand waiting a few months, a year or two but sometimes life is just too short and you gotta live "now" and not in a world that you "hope" will be. My 2.00001 cents on the "waiting game"...

Todd

[JohnnyK]

Originally posted by Todd Fredericks
I can understand waiting a few months, a year or two but sometimes life is just too short and you gotta live "now" and not in a world that you "hope" will be.

Todd

Todd,

You are 100% correct! I live in Chicago which was one of the "Test" cities for a new video format called DVD. In March of 1997 I wanted to purchase a DVD player and a DD5.1 receiver. My wife suggested that I wait until the new format is "perfected". Well I convinced her otherwise and we were the first on our block, maybe first in the city, to have a DVD system. After we player "Twister" ( one of only 10 DVD's available at the time) she was hooked. We have had many years enjoying our "nonperfected" system.

[RetroSmith]

>>>>Thats true. The enjoyment factor is Huge.

I remember I paid 1,000 for a 1X Cd burner in 1995 or so. That same burner today is......a paperweight!!! But making my own Cds from reel to reel tapes was a big thrill. I guess thats the same thing.

[Todd Fredericks]

Johnny,

Same thing with us with the DVD player. I'd been reading about it's development for years and when it finally came out on the market we got one. Yeah, we were the only people we knew who had one (except for my mother, she always has been an early adopter, pretty cool eh?). Video stores laughed when we suggested possibly renting DVD's in the near future. My wife was hooked after 30 seconds (she even has one in her new place of residence/oh well). I remember a lot of friends saying "who needs DVD? I'm perfectly happy with VHS". Most of them have DVD players now (ha!). Yes, equipment gets surpassed by the next "improvement" or pricing but live now and not always tomorrow (within reason)...

Todd