Arcam CD-73

in my experience, the Arcam is THE player to beat under $1k. It really does do everything well. You have to spend alot more to jump noticeably ahead in terms of refinment and texture.

Personally, I think it's the best CD player that costs $800 or less new. You'd have to spend 50% more to get a little improvement, and twice as much to find noticeable improvements.

I really like my classe cdp.3 and used to have the Arcam cd73t and sold it.

once you get rid of the crappy op amps that are in the stock unit and put in better quality ones, it will compete with anything out there. i upgraded to the bb opa627's on mine. it's the only unit so far to keep up with my modified denon 1560ar, which has trounced every sub-$1000 unit i've put up against it.

A very nice CDP – don’t go the upgrade route, though. This is too pricy. Also, if you are willing to buy used, you can get an Arcam FMJ CD-23 for approximately the same price. This is significantly better than the CD 73 even if you maxed it out with all the available upgrades (to CD 92 specs) at a cost of over $1200 in addition to the original $800. An FMJ CD-33 is sometimes sold for less than $1150 used, and this is really an entirely different class of player than the CD 73.

If you are setting up your two-channel audio any where near a TV in your house, I would suggest you go for a DVD 78. The audio on these is very close to as good as the CD73, and the video playback is unmatched in the price range ($999 list, less used). I was absolutely floored by what it did for me DVDs, as was my wife.