CD Players Getting Better?

I really do think some of the new technology offers better resolution and less of a "digital" sound. I'm extrememly pleased with my EVS Millenium DAC II. Before that I was using an old Studer A727...a $3000-$4000 pro CDP from the 80s. It sounds great and it's built like a tank, but the newer DAC chips offer much more resolution and a more natural, refined sound. Some of the Resolution Audio CD50 sell in the $1500 - $1700 price range, and there are many more options. I use my DAC with my DVD player (a Pioneer DV05), and they cost a total of $1650.

I would say go to the used market. I previously used a heavily modified Phillips unit just to play music that was not available in LP format. An audiophile friend was in the upgrade mode, and I purchased his theta tranport and Dac with Theta's proprietary optical link. This is by far the most listenable digital I have every heard, including Levinson, Spectral, Meridian, Wadia. My previous experience was the only differences were their respective weaknesses.. My combo cost less than $ 1800. I actually look forward to listening to disks now. Sorry I waited five years to upgrade. Perhaps the recent move to one box units is to lower price, and attract the audiophile waiting for the new formats.

Dburdick:

Or depending on what you are trying to do in the future, then why don't you consider a "newer" player for less money and then wait for the digital format war to end, and then go ahead and spend that money on a "higher end" model that plays in that format then. That's what I am going to do. I was going to spend about $2K on a brand new Meridian 506.24 if I didn't either find a used one either out there in the field, or here on the internet at a price that was acceptable to me (about $800.00 to $1,000.00), or opt for a newer "24-bit/96-khz." player such as a Arcam CD72 or Rega Planet 2000 and then either wait for the dust to settle on one of the newer formats (SACD or DVD-A), or wait for an affordable universal digital player to hit the market which will not only play discs from the newer format, but will also play my existing CDs as well. My advice then, it to wait and see if you could get a 2 to 3 year old $2K player for $1K or less, and then just sit back and watch the newer formats fight it out. Afterwards, then just get a player that conforms to THAT standard. You'll be surprised at the quality you could get at that price. At that price, you should be able to get a quality player right about now, something that was unheard of as recently as a year ago. That would be my take on this issue.

--Charles--

Go with a new player! The newer chip sets from Burr Brown are much better than those of 2 years old or older.

My suggestion...no need to even spend that much...newer MusicHall or others in the $500 range would more than meet your needs while all the hi-rez or next hi-rez format "shakes out"...