As Good as a Mohican... But Used.


I’ve owned a Hegel CDP4AMk2 since 2010. It’s gotten hundreds of hours of play over the last decade. The only problem it ever had was a bit of an LED issue: a couple hundred bucks, and really just an aesthetic issue. The sound was great for the price for the time. It’s still not bad, but def has a decent amount of digitalits associated with its sound compared to higher end, more recent players.

I might be in the market for a "new" player. I’m aware of the controversy over Hegel sourcing Opera parts from China. Yet the Mohican is widely praised for its sonics. That said, I’m not sure I want to drop $5k for a Mohican. They do appear used, but not often. I recently missed one I could have purchased...

I know the Bryston has been said to be almost as good as the Mohican, and for $3500 I could buy new if I felt like it.

All that as preamble, what is out there that’s sonically as good as the Mohican on the used market for about $3k? Anything?
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Are you willing to go the DAC transport route?  If not, I have the Bryston DAC3.  Same chip as the Bryston CDP.  The DAC is fantastic, I imagine the CD player would be as well.  Otherwise get the DAC3 for about 3K and pair with any transport.
Other gear: Hegel H360; Rega P10; Herron VTPH-2A; two pair Sjofn HiFi The Clue (a pair each side), inverted on top of each other (spaced), wired in parallel (advice of designer): all Supra Sword wire.

Don’t really want to do a DAC/transport set-up at this point. Possibly down the road. Just want a one box player which sonically is a good bit more refined than my decade old CDP4A-Mk2.

I’ll probably start to stream down the road, but not ready to get married to another pay-for-play service at the moment. More in the mood to get rid of them.
I had a Mohican in my system for about a month, swapped players with a good friend and fellow audiophile.  It is a nice unit but I felt my Sony SCD1 still sounded more natural overall.
It all depends on what you mean by "good".

It should be easy to pick up a used Marantz Ruby SACD for under 3K, and they're very good.
"Good" is short hand for: holographic soundstage; tonal, timing, timbral accuracy; vanished noise floor; dearth of digitalis, etc.