Best CD Player HDCD under $1000US

Buy a Arcam cd p2 t or 23 t version

^^^ Did the Krell KAV300CD? It was an excellent sounding CD player that could decode HDCD. The player sounded better than most players on normal CD and really great on HDCDs. It cost about 4K even as KAV was Krell's budget line, so not a cheap player for its time. I don't see to many up for sale now. Maybe most are dead now, or repaired, like mine?

I took it to a repair guy that had never even heard of Krell and he fix the laser. He was very impressed with the filter having 1,500 resistors-he said he had never seen anythink like it!!!

Keep in mind that HDCD filter used on many players does not produce the full potential of redbook CD. On such players HDCD will sound much superior to redbook CD in comparison. Ideally the player could use different digital filters for HDCD encoded CD and standard redbook CD to maximize the sound playback for both formats, but very few players do.

Definitely the Oppo (but note, it's the BDP-83 SE). An absolutely outstanding machine.

I had a NAD C542. The redbook play back was OK. However, the HDCD playback was almost holographic. I had a pricey Arcam DV-137 with HDCD playback and the NAD sounded far better (HDCD only though).

Yes, how about the Oppo BD 83 SE. Amazing value, and it does so much more than HDCD!

I don't want to use this space to sell something, but by Monday I am going to place an ad here on the Gon, selling a great HDCD player. I am going to sell my Classe CDP-10.
You can find some articles on the web about it.
Check it out. You might be interested in mine or one in the future.

The Denon Universal players (like the 2900, 3900, etc) are pretty good, although purchased new only the 2900 is under $1000. But used, they are pretty cheap (especially since each has had many iterations). I have had the 2930, and a Marantz SA8260 - I prefer the Denon.

oops, yes, that was a typo. Thanks for pointing that out Hesson11.

Bar81, Did you mean to type "CD23" rather than "CD32"? That's the one with the Ring DAC.

-Bob

New and hdcd don't come together anymore with a few exceptions. How about the oppo bdp 83se?

You might want to consider a used Arcam FMJ CD32. It has a dcs ring dac and HDCD.

Rotel RCD-1072. Under $500 for one like new. Solid. Exemplary build quality. Reliable. Sound wise on par with units several times the cost. I've owned NAD, Music Hall, Sony ES, Rega, Oppo. I put the Rotel above them all on cost/performance/reliability quotient.

The best I've had at that price point (used) was the Cambridge Audio 840c. It isn't HDCD enabled & I only have a dozen or so hdcd's, but they all sounded a touch better than than the redbook cd's. And the redbook's sounded great. IMHO, a true bargain on the used market.

Can you find an old Shanlin?