andrewmcalister

Overall Rating
 1 of 5

Value Rating
 1 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $1000.00 from Tottenham Crt Rd, Lo

Summary:
I had mis-givings about buying a Philips, but the reviews were raving about it. When I got it home I noticed the CD tray was very flimsey, and when playing, the mechanism could be clearly heard. Also it gets faily hot, so I made sure it was on the top of the rack. I didn't notice an enormous improvment in sound quality on my system, but when taken to a friends house with better equipment, it seemed as detailed as his Meridian CD player. Within a few months of occasional use, I had trouble turning it on, the power light would only light up sometimes, but I've lived with that fault. Recently it began stopping in the middle of tracks especially when playing DVD's. This progressed fairly rapidly to strange behaviour (like suddenly opening CD tray, going off) and now to not even starting to play. A Philips repair centre had it for two weeks, but they were unable to get any information from Philips on this player. I feel rether cheated by Philips, and want to urge anyone considering buying any Philips product to think again.

Strengths:
It was detailed while it worked.

Weaknesses:
Build quality, and Philips obviously skipped on the product testing in their rush to get it to market.

Similar Products Used:
none

AudioTubbie

Overall Rating
 2 of 5

Value Rating
 1 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $900.00 from Correct HiFi Rotterd

Summary:
I've used the SACD1000 for two and a half years and was very. very satisfied with the sound quality. I chose it over a Sony 555ES which I had in direct comparison. The Sony seemed to be of a much better build quality but was simply outclassed bij the natural, true to life sound of the Philips. The Sony overwhelmed me at first with its deep bass & clear highs but it became clear very soon that it was really overdoing things in these respects. This both in CD and SACD playback. The CD playback is very good overall. Until I got the Philips I used a Rotel transport and separate Rotel DAC and the SACD1000 sounded, at least, every bit as good as this combination. When I wanted to upgrade from the SACD1000 to something better it became apparent that that was harder then I expected it to be. I tried the Marantz DV8400 and DV9500 but neither of these two could better the sound quality of the Philips. Then I tried the Marantz SA17 which sounded just a little bit better in terms of detail and space around the instruments, but the improvement was not enough to satisfy me. After these attempts I took a drastic step up (at least in price) and tried a Lexicon RT-10 because I had read in a review that this was a wonderfull player, especially when combined with my Lexicon MC-12B through the AES/EBU balanced digital connection. This however turned out to be a huge dissapointment. Although the RT-10 did provide slightly deeper and tighter bass performance it put too much emphasis on the top end to sound good in my sytem. When connected through the analog outputs there was almost no noticble difference to the Philips. This all goes to show how good the SACD1000 really sounds even though it is (only) a Philips... Then I got my hands on a CEC TL2 transport which finally revealed how good redbook CD could sound on my system. It presented me with the sonic detail, space, pace and soundstage that I was looking for. But unfortunatly this wonderfull device only playes redbook CD's and left me wanting for equally good SACD and DVD playback...... Things finally all came together when I encounterde a second-hand (or pre-loved...) Teac Esoteric DV-50. This really is a reference class piece of playback equipment! It even bested the CEC TL2 by a very small margin and gave the same stellar performance on stereo and multi-channel SACD!! Alas I to have to say that ultimately the Philips SACD1000 is NOT WORTH ITS NORMAL RETAIL PRICE because they ALL BEAK DOWN AFTER 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 YEARS of use!! And those A-holes at Philips tell you the can't repair it. If you present them the SACD1000 for repair they will offer you a (rather mediocre) 963 multiplayer if you give them an extra 100 Euro!!!! However, if you want to upgrade from Mid-Fi to HiFi you could take a chance and buy one of these players for a few hundred euro's on the pre-loved market. All you have to do is make sure it works well when you buy it and the PLUG & PRAY that it will keep working for a while..., because IT DOES SOUND SWEET! Really a 5 STAR sound rating!

Strengths:
Overall sound quality is superb even for its initial MSRP of 2000 euro. Can be purchased for very low price on second-hand market.

Weaknesses:
Average lifecycle is only 2 years with no chance of repair.... Product support from Philips is abominable!!! Thats why only a 1 star value rating

Similar Products Used:
Marantz DV8400, DV9500 & SA17 Lexicon RT-10 Teac Esoteric DV-50 (my precioussssss)

Price Paid:  $500.00 from audiogon

Summary:
Well, after all the depressing reviews you saw below - here is something refreshing. Fortunately my uni, bought used from audiogon, works flawlessly and its over a year now (touch wood). In terms of performance, I think its SACD playback, in a single word, gives you superb "soundstage". Clearly SACD sounds amazing. However - for redbook CDs - i in fact prefer my Marantz CC9100 player. This player simply compromised on redbook playback, but i do not mind because I have two sources connected. To someone who said the faceplate and remote are cheap - dont believe them. The build quality is excellent and its a superb unit, at least for me. And it can be found real cheap at audiogon. There cannot be a cheaper and better way to experience SACDs. But I recommend you keep your existing CD Player too...

Strengths:
superb build quality (my experience, that is) excellent SACD playback a real bargain at $500, built like a $1000+ player

Weaknesses:
redbook playback aint optimal they never made it in black :(

Similar Products Used:
Marantz CC9100, Creek, various others

Price Paid:  $1999.00 from audio advisor

Summary:
As a newly purchased product, sounded very good on sacd and red-book cd. DVDs played fine on normal tv, have not seen on HD. Fortunately, a 2 year waranty... after putting up with nosiy transport (thinking it was a disc problem), machine started skipping tracks and jumping content until I eventualy returned to factory depot in Tampa, FL. Friendly folks there said it was not repairable, in spite of the $2K price tag and just over a year old!!! How can any company offer a "high end" product with a 24 month "bumper to bumper" waranty, and not support it with a minimal parts replacement process after n26 months??? The joke is on me, I guess! Oh well, my full cash refund allowed purchase of a discounted $3K Sony ES SACD which is better in every way. I would avoid any product from Philips based on my experience. Pat.

Strengths:
good sacd

Weaknesses:
very low build quality, noisy transport, NO service.

Price Paid:  $499.00 from Hi Fi Buys

Summary:
First, let me say the SACD playback was really not that bad at all. I was fully convinced of SACD's great advantage over CD when I heard the stereo mix of DSOTM. However, It would've been great if the player didnt crap on itself six months into its lifespan. One day the player refused to turn on. I did the diagnostics and it said something like error 4. Ok, so I send it into Philips and have yet to see it. They say its "fcked forever;" those were the repairman's exact words. So I just told them to send me a check and forget about seeing even a drop from my wallet fall for another crappy product. I should've seen it from the beginning, though. Cheap faceplate, cheap buttons, I had it coming.

Strengths:
Given the circumstances, I cant say much on this.

Weaknesses:
Customer service, build quality. And this was once a $2000 product???? Puleeeez.