dcs puccini, chord red ref, meitner cdsa or nagra

Chadeffect,

MBL 9007Monos, Blowtorch Pre, Wilson Maxx2s, Taralabs Omega Gold, Zero Onyx ICs and Cobalt XLs. Looking for a combination of SOTA resolution and musicality.

Nice system. I like the MBL amps.

If you cant go a little further up the DCS line, I would try the Emm labs first. Dont get me wrong, the DCS is an amazing player and has volume control (you could sell your preamp), but their single box version while very impressive, struggles with musicality IMO when compared to the higher in the range DCS which are absolutely SOTA.

I do find DCS has no "sound" although the latest range is less "cold" sounding than the earlier ranges.

If you are looking for a musical player, which with a lot of people seems to mean "warm", you may find it leaning towards sterile. If your system is well balanced it can be just the right thing.

From what I can tell the EMM Lab while not as detailed, leans towards warm in comparison. It really is a very nice player and would just slot in without much effort I am sure.

Someone has mentioned a Playback Design SACD player. I dont know it, but may be worth hearing. The only problem with these kind of companies is their value drops very quickly and may be difficult to sell later.

when you say further up the dcs line - do you mean the paganini and scarlatti? i'd like to know how much better the paganini is vs the puccini.
also, i'm looking for resolution and transparency - not added on warmth.

Puccini is hard to beat in terms of resolution, transparency, MUSIC, flow, slam, soundstage, construction quallity, from all the one box alternatives.

A better remote control is needed only.

*Never heard the playback designs though, but former user of Emmlabs cdsa se and familiar with Esoteric line.

I would agree with Kops,

the DCS guys really do know how to dig out resolution. I believe they are the only CD player manufacturers that use a chip right at the laser output to look at the information before it is sent to the DAC section.

If you feel you dont need any "rose tinted glasses" on your system, go DCS. You will have resolution and transparency to spare.

Yes I did mean going further up the DCS range to either Panganini or Scarlatti. If the budget is tight, try to find an older DCS transport with firewire and use the latest DAC/clock until such time. The Scarlatti is perfection.