Hi *,

I am interested in replacing my cheapo (Phonotrend) DVD player with one which can also play SACD (in surround mode). I am inclined to avoid Phillips and Sony because of negative reviews of their customer service. I have seen some very positive reviews of Pioneer DV-668AV. This costs a bit more than I was planning to spend, but I have read reviews, which say that the cheaper models all have disturbingly noisy disk drives. In fact, I have read reviews in which even the more expensive models of most manufacturers (with the exception of Samsung and Teac) were considered unacceptably noisy.

I realize that the perception of "noisiness" is very subjective, but I get the impression that there is a large unit-to-unit variation in operating noise. Iwould be interested in hearing what experience forum members here have had with the noise issue, as well as any specification recommendations for or against particular SACD-capable models.

Best Regards,
Roger