Video Asylum

Posted by Alex F. (A) on October 26, 2016 at 11:30:31

In Reply to: RE: which bluray player? posted by fstein on October 24, 2016 at 17:14:04

Several months ago I did a comparison of the the audio quality available from the transports of our Sony BDP-S6500 and Samsung BD-H5900 using the HDMI outputs fed to a Yamaha Aventage RX-A2020's preamp section. (Our theater system utilizes, among other components, an Adcom GFA-5503 power amp and Polk LSi25 front main speakers.) The Yamaha was set to Pure Direct audio mode.

The Sony was serviceable at playing my reference redbook CDs. The sonics were rough sounding and a bit edgy in the upper midrange and lower treble. The cymbals in Linda Ronstadt's "What's New" CD were in the parking lot behind the recording studio instead of on the stage floor. Mechanically, the very small and lightweight Sony vibrates and shakes like crazy, perhaps affecting the sonics.

The far sturdier Samsung's sonics were much better. It was quite smooth top to bottom. The cymbals were in their proper location.

Neither player competes with a good quality CD transport or player. If necessary, though, I could live with the Samsung, but not the Sony, for CD use.

I have two other SACD players--the Sony 6500's SACD performance is not competitive (again, it's "serviceable").

Both players offer excellent quality Blu-ray video, DVD upscaling, and wifi streaming performance of Netflix. The Sony often freezes up streaming Hulu. We have a second Sony 6500 in another room and it performs the same as its sister unit.

If I were looking for an inexpensive all-purpose player where CD use was important, I would consider the currently available Samsung BD-J6300 ($107 at Amazon), which appears to utilize the same physical platform as our BD-H5900.