Next, I compared the DPS-8.3 to Sony's DVP-S9000ES, my SACD reference. The 9000 is only a 2-channel player, so I couldn't compare multichannel SACD. But I'm not sure that matters—the capabilities and liabilities discovered in two channels are certain to be replicated in the others. I carried out direct A/B comparisons using copies of Yo-Yo Ma's Solo (Sony Classical SS14), an incredibly sweet-sounding disc that really shows off the capabilities of SACD. In my view, strings are among the most difficult instruments for a CD player to render—and the most pleasing in SACD, because the newer format re-creates their sound far more realistically. Once again, I found that the DPS-8.3's rendition of the solo cello was somewhat edgy and hard, denying me the full benefits of SACD. On the Sony, the cello sounded smooth and silky.

For DVD-Audio, I listened to Natalie Merchant's Tigerlily (Elektra 62570-9), and Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting the Berlin Philharmonic in the music of Richard Strauss (Teldec 3984-24489-0). The sound was lean, not as warm as I like, though that's a matter of taste. But the edginess was not as apparent. I missed the bass, obviously; bass management was not available. This is an issue only if you use a standalone subwoofer with main speakers that do not reproduce the full bass range. If you have full-range, integrated speakers, the lack of bass management will not matter.

For video, once again I compared the Integra with the Sony. I used Sony's VPH-G90U projector (with 9-inch CRTs), a Faroudja VP-5000 video processor, and a Stewart StudioTek 130 screen. My immediate impression was that the Integra looked warmer than the Sony, which is already known to present a warm picture. The Integra's picture bordered on oversaturation in red.

I watched the opening scenes of an older movie, Desperado—a nice DVD transfer. The red boots of the outlaw in the opening story seemed to glow, while on the Sony they were simply red. But modern, high-end DVD players let you adjust for such issues. I tuned the Chroma control down a bit, and the problem went away. I still found the Sony to be a little sharper—the beads on Cheech Marin's western shirt as he sat at the bar were better delineated. Once again, it was possible to use the Integra's controls to sharpen the image, but the same could be done on the Sony. A player that starts out sharper will win that competition as you ramp up the controls; eventually, the controls will add artifacts of their own. At the last step before that happened, the Sony was still sharper.

To examine a DVD player's progressive-scan output, I have an older Hitachi 36-inch direct-view HDTV, the 36SDx88B, whose first-generation line doubler is mediocre. Viewing the Integra DPS-8.3's progressive output through the Hitachi's component inputs improved the picture markedly. But if you own a digital TV with a better scaler than the Hitachi's, you're likely to find that the Integra's progressive image, or that of any pro-scan DVD player, will offer little if any improvement over your set's internal doubler.

Conclusions
At present, only a few universal players are on the market, including the Integra DPS-8.3, the Pioneer DV-47Ai, and the Marantz DV-8300. (I don't count the Sony DVP-N999ES, which doesn't support DVD-Audio.) All three provide competent but not top-of-the-line SACD performance, better DVD-Audio performance, and they are outstanding as CD players. The Pioneer and the Integra cost $1200, the Marantz $1500. The Integra offers every possible feature one could want on a player, including some the Pioneer lacks. Butsome of these features are implemented incompletely or with galling restrictions in the DPS-8.3, and the Pioneer offers superior picture quality—among the best of any DVD player I've seen. Though the differences between them are small, I'd choose the Pioneer. [To expand the comparison, I'd rate the Marantz DV-8300's video performance as equivalent to any Pioneer I've used, including the DV-47A. In fact, I'd be tempted to call the three players—Integra, Pioneer, and Marantz—near-clones in most important respects.—TJN]

If you don't care about DVD-Audio, then I recommend the Sony DVP-NS999ES over either of the other two. It, too, costs $1200, but it does almost everything better than either the Integra or the Pioneer—though I rate its video performance about equal to the Pioneer's.

Still, the performance differences between these players are slight, as always seems to be true when comparing first-rate products. There's a lot to like about the Integra DPS-8.3.