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krbahr · **Posted:** 12 Jan 2022, 03:09

My opinion is that the CLD-97 was the last real Elite design for the US market, meaning; the CLD-59 is a CLD-D604 that added a soft/normal/sharp picture selection; The CLD-79 has the same picture quality as the CLD-D704 but has the cheaper audio section found in the CLD-D604; The CLD-99 has the same picture quality as the CLD-D704 and the same audio circuit found in the 704, the 99 does have the 3D Adaptive filter but it is an old first generation and most TV's do a better job if you get a decent TV. The DVL-90 is a DVL-700 and the DVL-91 is a DVL-919 with option differences though the 91 did seem to re-equalize the S-Video output to make it sharper.

The LD-S1, LD-S2, CLD-95, CLD-97 all have unique power board layouts, unique video and audio board layouts, and the LD-S2 has shielding between all the boards. You cannot compare these Elite models to the non-Elite units made at the time. The McIntosh MLD-7020 changed the CLD-97 to a McIntosh case and front design and most had the precision laserdisc AC-3 RF board added for the AC-3 output, all the power, video, and audio boards are unmodified CLD-97 boards.

This is why I always suggest if you like the picture of the newer models just buy a CLD-D704, I think it is the best bang for the buck. If you prefer the smoother background and not quite as sharp then I prefer the S2 or 97, the 95 is a good choice if you use the composite signal output. The magazine "The Perfect Vision" did a test of high end players when the CLD-95 was current production and they found a chroma verses luminance timing issues and Pioneer quickly responded with the CLD-97 fixing that, but the 95 used a multibit DAC where the 97 moved to the Philips bitstream DAC but that is another discussion. The S1 is also a good unit.

Again, this is some history and preferences are just my opinion, others feel differently, get the unit you like and just enjoy it, there is no perfect player.