Various formats, 2x outputs

The remote is not very comfortable, but that doesn't bother me. Also it is best if the outputs were gold plated, but that would jack up the price.

Excellent Dvd Player. What I love is that it can play every format possible. (with the exception of jpeg cd's) Right now im using its optical out put to my reciever, and, one analog to the tv, and the other to the reciever (the analog to the reciever because SACD's can't be played from the digital because of protective reasons, but thats in al players). it is hooked using component video and is nice and sharp. Top-of-the line model, and stil remains top of the line for 5-disc changer's.

Similar Products Used:

Sony DVP-nc655
Sony DVp-Nc665

Everything, especially at this price

Build quality - just feels flimsy compared to the old dedicated CD player. But then, maybe everything does....

OK, I gave this one a little time to percolate. I had to replace a Sony DVP-NC650V, which was having some page-changing problems and couldn't play the first 1/3 of one of my favorite CDs, so was relegated to the bedroom, replacing a Sony CDP-C75ES CD player. From some of the talk among 'philes here and there you'd think there actually was no DVD player that can handle CDs adequately, although many do well with SACDs. Well maybe that was true - until this thing came along. I actually stole this off a guy on eBay with the inent of reselling at a profit, but in checking it out I discovered that not only does it do dynamite work with SACDs, but it also does equal justice to redbook CDs through our Sony DA777ES receiver and B&W DM600s3s in stereo. Yes, it is at least the equal of the old C75ES, which was, needless to say, quite good (and weighed nearly twice as much as this "throw-away"). Video? Outstanding! Brilliant, vivid, accurate and easy to look at picture, along with surround sound as good as the DA777 can dish out. (Haven't tried the player solo - why should I? I've got "the best receiver ever made" to play it through. Together they do magic with light and sound.

Similar Products Used:

Sony CDP-C75ES, Sony DVP-NC650V, Sony DA777ES, Yamaha M-40 & C-60, Rotel RB980BX & AudioSource Preamp/Tuner Two, B&W DM17s, B&W DM600S3s, ADS L1230s.

Good styling, Sony name? SACD. #'s Look good on paper. Many picture adjustments.

Poor picture on HD 65" Toshiba. Slow carosel and slow chapter skiping. No direct disc button on remote, must skip through discs. No DVD audio...obviously.

I purchased this DVD changer looking for a product to be comparable to my previous Denon DVD player. I studied the numbers and felt by the great ratings and impressive stats including SACD that I was going to find an exceptional buy. How disapointed I was, I have had many DVD players over the years and have a good idea what to expect. This player shocked me with the jagged edges and the poor picture, the carosel was slow and made a grumbling noise. On the plus side, the styling, in my opinion, is pleasing. I returned the player to J&R, which was a painless experience. Overall not a recomended player at any price. If you are finiky on pic quality and/or playing on a big screen skip this one and go with another brand, in my humble opinion.

Similar Products Used:

Denon, JVC, Onkyo

Incredible picture quality Very good DVD movie sound

Sub-par quality CD music performance No photo display capabilities

I bought a Samsung DLP TV and had to replace my old Sony non-progressive DVD player. I wanted to get a Sony ES DVD player, but decided to wait until I can get one with DVI output, so I thought I'd buy a decent quality lower-end model. I had originally bought an Onkyo DVCP701 and was sorely disappointed in the picture quality. So it took it back and bought the Sony. I'm very pleased with this machine. It does what it's intended to do, and does it very well. The picture quality is outstanding, especially for a $200 player. I have it running through Acoustic Research component video cables. The picture is razor-sharp and shows no artifacts. You have to fiddle with the Dynamic setting a bit to get the best picture. I picked Dynamic 1, but I'm sure it's different for other TVs. Sound quality for movies is incredible. Everything is very well-defined and spatial. Sound performance on CDs was lackluster. Everything sounded muted and dull, with little spatial quality. Everything seemed to be either left or right, with little discernable soundstage. Still, I have a dedicated CD player I can use for music. I haven't tried the unit with SACDs so I can't comment on that aspect.

Similar Products Used:

Onkyo DVCP701 (ick)

Fantastic SACD sound. Exceptionally suprising CD sound. Good DVD picture. A multi-tasker that really does everything well.

Remote is not lit. No video buffer system on DVD layer change. That's it.

Well I happened to be in Circuit City the other day looking at Cd's when I stumbled across this player. I had been wanting to do one of two things to my audio system of recent, improve upon my old Denon cd player, or get a SACD player. I've kept my eyes open in the past year or so for a cheap entry level SACD player. Visiting Best Buy routinely I noticed that they indeed did have a cheap SACD player. Unfortunately it was too cheap (a peace of crap Pioneer I think). When I saw the Sony I immediately got the itch. Although I've only had this player running for less than a week, a couple of observations are necessary. It became apparent rather quickly that the performance from "Red book" Cd's was much improved upon my older Denon player. This consequently delayed my listening to SACD's for a while. One doesn't have to look too far to see why the Sony outperforms the Denon in CD playback: 24 bit/192 kHz DAC vs. 16 bit/ 44.1 kHz DAC. When you get right down to it, it's ultimately the DAC that determines your sound. Not Chokes or after-market power cords or ridiculous power supplies or fancy glass epoxy boards or any of that. That may help some, but it's really a case of pyschoacoustics. If you really want to spend a lot of money in a cd player, buy a $250-400 one every two years or whatever time frame that coincides with the release of a new chip architecture. You'll be happy you went with sound engineering. Next up in this player's performance is DVD video (obviously Sony can't support a competing format in DVD-audio). I wasn't really interested in using this player as a DVD player when I bought it, but it actually performs very well in this category too. Again, a 12 bit/108 MHz video DAC can do wonders as well. Anyone still wonder why just about any computer with a pentium 4 is better than the most expensive computer one could put together based around a pentium 3 chip? The only thing that is bothersome about the Sony in DVD play is it's lack of a 2 MB buffer system on layer change. It would have been nice but I can live without it. The picture is very good, and like other reviewers, I choose to use an outboard processor for the surround sound. Finally, the reason why I bought this player (at least I think it's why), SACD! My first foray into SACD came curtosy Pink Floyd's DSOTM. I was kind of skeptical at the onset of surround sound technology about how I would like my music broken up and scattered around me. Of course, SACD also supports strictly 2 channel stereo modes. This was how I listened to the Floyd disk first. To say that I was shocked would be an understatement. The detail (across the whole frequency spectrum) is amazing. Bass slam, timbre accuracy, resolution, high frequency detail without fatigue, intimacy of every nuance. And did I mention Bass slam? My sub has never sounded so tight and in phase. How did multichannel listening sound? Just as good. DSOTM's "Time" track is probably the penultimate for this format. I can't conceive that it would get much better than this. I'm sure I will be proven wrong though. Consider me Sony's number one fan on their DSD's 1 bit 2.822 MHz sampling rate (64 times that of CD). For those of you who haven't heard it, do yourself a favor and try a SACD machine. Just make sure you pick a good piece of software. Aerosmith's copies are a big pile of marketing crap. I hope to see more rock titles released in the future in SACD (there's currently around 700 plus Classical and Jazz titles available). And I also think SACD will soundly trump DVD-audio. The engineering is just better (although one could raise the point as to when that has ever mattered; think DAT vs. cassette tapes). Now for the cosmetics. The player has a nice build quality. Good heft even with a plastic front panel. I do like the bright blue and white lights on the front detailing SACD/mulichannel/progressive scan, although they can be dimmed. There are no gold plated contacts though, although I don't think that really detracts much. The player operates smoothly (something my Denon never really did) and quickly. The one thing that would be nice is a lit remote, but I can't understand how Sony is selling this machine for $250 to begin with, so I guess they had to cut costs somewhere. Speaking of which, I'm pretty sure they are LOSING money on this machine. But I guess they figure by pushing the SACD software and hopefully establishing a market share, they'll reap the benefits of another 20 year patent. For those of you who think spending thousands of dollars on digital gear is worth it, do yourself a favor and stow that cash with the purchase of this machine. If you really have to dump G's of cash on stereo gear, buy more expensive speakers or amps. Which is about the only thing the actual cost/benefit ratio strictly applies. Highly recommended.

Similar Products Used:

System: Acoustic Energy Aegis 2's, Center and Sub, Klipsch .5's, B&W LCR3, Acurus A100, Denon AVR-2802, Monster Cable, Straightwire Calbe, and Signal Cable.

Affordable but disguised killing macine to blow awwwaayyy CD players costing $2,000 and up. Great proprietary DAC that beats MSB. As a DVD player, one of the best - sharp and colorful pictures.

The numbering on the carousel tray cannot be seen when loading. Read numbers with finger tips like braile.

My CD transport died on Christmas day and I started a quest to replace it. I considered the AH!JOEB for $699 but the NOS tubes would set you back additional $200-300 for a pair of the best tubes. LISTENING ENJOYMENT HELD HOSTAGE BY VERY EXPENSIVE TUBES ( nice try Jose). I went to Circuit City to peruse their offerings and low and behold the DVP NC685V. I was hypnotized by the SACD logo.It plays reg CDs, DVD, CDRs, too. So I said why not, there is competitive price guarantee and 30 day return and exchange guarantee as well. The price was good and I took a 3 year extended warranty on it too in case something happened that cannot be fixed. As a transport, the DVP NC685V would feed the MSB LINK DAC via RCA digital out. At first serving, the Sony was a good transport with the MSB DAC. My earlobes got hotter and my insticts took over to try the Sony as a player using its own DAC and removing the MSB from the loop. I did an A-B comparison. The MSB was more forward and aggressive and LESS refined maybe due to its voltage setting. The Sony DVP NC685V was butt-blower. I have tried many transports and DACs including the $5K Sony SACD player. I will declare : this puppy blows away many of the boutique CD players with upgrades up the yin yang with a 5 guage power cord. Smoothness, clarity, bass slam, definition, coherency, airiness and on and on are there for the ultimate enjoyment. Female vocals are smooth. Instrumentations are crisp and distinct. Man I cannot believe this - this 12 bit 108 MHz is a bit of a monster. Who could imagine an affordable machine able to do the miracle. Played Led Zeppelin DVD and behold full of bass and all the glory of Zep played back in spades. WHAT IF WE UPGRADED THE...naahhh forget it, just sit and relax enjoy the colorful music... don't be an audiophile dork...

Similar Products Used:

Parasound, Sonic Frontiers, Sony SACD 1,other Sonys, Cal Audio, Pioneer,MSB DAC,etc.

SACD,handles video well very quiet and fast, standard sony quality

No gold plated jacks or detachable cord, minor ergonomic problems that seem endemic to 5 disc players, some might not like the blue light, I think its cool, remotes not laid out very well but what are you using it for? Get a decent universal

I've had a dvd audio machine (panny rp-91) and while dvd audio is great I think sacd has an edge. I was thinking about sonys new 400 disc mrgachanger but audio quality is key to me and most of the changers I've tried are somewhat lacking, so when I saw this on sale I grabbed it I've only had it a week, but hats enough to be blowed away by sacd audio sound, this is the format for music lovers Doesnt have the bells and whistles of dvd audio, tho. Overall this is a great player, it handles mp3s' with an exelent menu system, and even plays vcds that I made off of stuff downloaded of the net. Never had a dvd changer before but this one is quiet, quieter than my yamaha 5disc cd changer. Fast, too. Sound, as I said, is amazing, but I wish it would output cd pcm at 88.2 sampling rate, my dvd audio player does this and the sound from plain ol cds' is somewhat amazing. Picture quality is quite good, color is pure, and fine detail is really good, in spite of sonys practice of "smoothing" the edges. But when playing charlies ngels superbit dvd the red push was huge, dont know if the high bit rate was the prob, but the cinema and dynamic picture modes cured any prob, you just have to try these and see which one you prefer You cant set the black level for componet, but you dont really need to,dept and three demensionality is quite good, the mark of a good black level I got the best results with the HULK, the picture on this dvd was really good, but I think music videos and sacd are going to be the main job of this player, as the picture on my panasonic blows it away(but it is a 700 dollar player) odds and ends There are no gold plated rca jacks or detachable power cord, which is fine for a player in this price range. Sony finaly got rid of their rediculous progressive switch on the back of the player(which was pretty useless, IMHO The front of the player is nicely laid out, you get a button for each disc on the front of the player but have to enter the menu system on the remote to go directly to a disc. I dont know much more about the remote, as I use a universal, but it seemed like they just threw buttons on the thing with no ryhme or reason. progressive on the front panel toggles between film, video, auto, and "normal", whatever that is, but you cant turn progressive off at componet, so why not just have a film/video switch? And the disc exchange took awhile to get used to. Is it some sort of law that the exchange button on 5 disc machines be hard to find and use? I've never found a decent one. And there are transport controls on the front, which will NEVER be used, why do manufacturers keep putting these on the front of players? Why not put the money on gold plated contacts or something that will see some USE? The remote control, menu system Sony usually does a decent remote but this one is rather unorganized, but anybody with a system thats up to this player should have a good universal anyway The menu systen is great but takes a little getting used to, its icon driven , a trend that panasonic started, and the layers arent too deep to get to something. One thing I like is the bit reader, something thats hard to get to on my panny But I really dont see why you need color controls, thats what your tv controls are for. If you have memory for each disc(my panny remembers 200) then fine, but if theres memory on this player I cant find it. There is start up memory for seven discs, even if you take them out of the player, they start up where you left off when you put them back in, something thats both nice and infuriating sometimes(but you can cut it off) Surround through the 6 channel is okay, with several virtual modes for dolby dig and dts materal, but if you have a decent receiver stick to that for decoding duties, and limit the 6 chanel to sacd (unless you have a really cheap receiver) Overall this is a great machine, it handled artifacts on my "torture test" videos as good as any I've seen, and would make a great "main" player. This si a huge value for the price, and is made in maylasia, a country which turns out well made products(my yamaha stuff is made there) Overall I cant see how you could go wrong with this unit, its a well made and thought out player

Similar Products Used:

panasonic rp-91, toshiba p.o.s

opitcal outputs. silent multidisk plater. High quality sound and piture.

Annoying bright lights on the players face.

Bought this unit without the benefit of anothers reviews. This product is well made. Sound and picture qualities are excellent. Has too many bells and whistles to list. I'll need a week off work to learn about it.

Similar Products Used:

JVK, not really similar.

Sound is very good, price from jandr.com is fantastic. A cool blue light comes on in some modes.

An cool blue light comes on in some modes. Some confusion on the warranty (see above)

I've only had this for two weeks but so far I'm satisfied with this unit. The big feature, or course, is its SACD capability. I've played several of the Rolling Stones hybrid discs on this and they sound great in both CD and SACD mode. It should be noted, that there is some confusion on the warranty on this unit. The J&R and Sony websites claim that the warranty is "12 months labor and parts." However, the document included with the unit says it is "90 days labor and 12 months parts." Who knows?