SACD is an expensive proposition and I would be hesitant about recommending the plunge. I purchased a Maratz SA-17S1 and had it heavily modified. Due to the 6 channel output requiring a lot of Black Gate Caps, the modifications cost more than the original player. The work was done here in Australia by Soundlabs Group in Melbourne. Here is what they did:

1 AC-SC2-33-S Audiocom Super Clock2 33.8688M
1 AC-SC-PSU-S Audiocom Super Clock PSU
1 Supply Black Gate Capaciters for
24 Di-HSSR-4/600 Diode 4A 600V (TO-251)
1 BDE-DIG1-S BDE-Digital Output Kit DIG 1

Add to that the expensive card for the 861 and it was a very costly exercise.

Was it worth it? That is a hard one to answer. The sound from the best SACDs is as good as from the best DVD-A's, but no better IMO. Finding those best SACDs & DVD-As on the net is not always easy.

e.g. I put an order in for DVD-As in to DVD Empire in October last year, they were not shipped airmail until mid Feb, but only arrived last week as someone goofed and they came by snail mail. DVD Empire were not sympathetic - not their fault but they did not offer any help to complain, something rather difficult when one lives thousands of miles away :-(

Bottom line is I'm not collecting many DVD-As or SACDs. Yes they do sound better, but whether or not the cost and the hassles of record collecting is justified is one you will have to answer. I felt the only way to find out was to tread the road myself but recommend caution for others. There is no guarantee either hi-rez format will survive. We have discussed this before.

John