Cd Player shootout ; which is the best of the best


Want to have some fun and at the same time benefit from some savy advice, here is the deal.
My front end is a Wadia 861 (actually an 860x recently upgraded). The unit's presentation is exquisite, in fact it bettered or equaled in various areas a 270/27ix Wadia combo I was babysiting for a friend while waiting for mine. However I've been serously considering going one step further and send it to Steve Huntley of Great Northern Sound(GNS) for his further upgrade which it's know to yield a significant improvement in the performance of this unit.
While doing some research in this topic a couple of units have cough my eye as serious contenders to the title of "best of the best cd player" Now I am wondering if I would do better upgrading my 861 or switching to one of these, the contenders are:
* Wadia 861 (with the GNS modificaton)
* Audiomeca Mephisto 24/192
* Audio Aereo Capitole 24/192
* Electrocompaniet EMC-1 MK II 24/192
There maybe some other worthy contenders but for sanity purpouses I've limited the scope to these ones.
For matching purpouses the rest of my set-up includes Lamm M1.1 monoblocks driving Verity's Parsifals via XLO Limited speaker cables, balanced interconnects are XLO Limited.
The 861 goes directly into the amps. in my current set-up but with 2 of this units I would need some volume control and am thinking a Placette pasive unit since ther is no analog in my inmediate future. No offense to vinyl lovers, I recognize it's many strenghs but at this point in my life am not willing to deal with it's complications.
Have you had the chance to compare some of these units among themselves? Your experiences will be greatly welcome and appreciated. Thanks.
jmr
Lordgorian, the Levinson also has a digital input, but it will not accept its own digital out signal, even if modified by the TacT. Not sure why this is so or if it is necessarily true with all CDPs--that's my question.
Guys'n gals (think there are some ladies in the group), thanks very much for your feedback. So far the information received is confirming initial impresions that all these units althou with small different traits are overall very good and will probably come down to taste and little details. Would like to hear thou experiences from 861 with GNS upgrades. Will be posting up conclusions from the comments received and my own research. Hope to be doing some in house auditioning of some of the units.
Drubin, as to your question I do'nt know about the others but the Wadia can do what you are asking and still keep the benefit of the Clocklink feature, Wadia's jitter control mechanism.
I don't know about the best in the world, but at the price point being considered here I would give a listen to the BAT
Jmr,
I too have the Parsifal Encores (aren't they great?!), and am REALLY pleased with my EMC-1 MkII up front, running balanced into Aleph P and 2 monos. Certainly NOT too bright, and with an effortless dynamisn even at lower gain settings! At first I thought that maybe the top octave was soft, but readily learned that it's the LACK of digital artifact and noise that makes it so damned natural and relaxed. Simply NO glare or treble edginess. Really, it makes me wonder what the fuss is all about with SACD....

I DID find that Harm Tech Pro Silway MkII and Nordost Red Dawn ICs were too lean (midrange lacked vividness), and am quite enthused with a Discovery Essence running balanced.
I have a Siltech 48B (auction sloppiness!) coming to compare, but I can't imagine an improvement.

I float the MkII on a Neuance, but am not sure it matters much. The EMC is also a joy to use, despite the bright blue display.
You can get a used MkI around here for $2k, and get the MkII DAC Kit upgrade from a friend of mine in Europe for $600, and have a helluva front end for under $3k.

I understand there's a lot of enthusiasm for the Mephisto and Capitole around here, but I'm done!
I have just purchased the audio aero, though it hasnt been shipped as of yet..I auditioned this superb cd player at a friends house who was deep into analog, and sold them all for this player. his opinion was, you have a cd player, which needs no pre-amp, and he hasnt heard any reason to stick with analog. hear what you like and compare..