I think the Philips 5500s is really good for audio. Just bought one and wow, galing sa SACD. I guess it's because SACD was started by Philips and Sony. for the additional 3k, the pioneer model has squeezed in a DVD-Audio capability, digital outputs - optical and coax, S-video, and all the bells and whistles. Makes me wonder if the rumor is true that it really converts the DSD track on SACDs into PCM to bring costs down.
Philips 5500s on the other hand has minimalist features but it is more likely to decode the DSD tracks directly and not convert to PCM. After all, they have to utilize their own technolgy and not "cheat' on it since somebody will surely dissect the 5500s and find out if it is truly SACD playback capable.