The best CD Player for the money

The Muse Model 9 Signature is one of the most underrated CD players out there plus it is drop dead great as a DVD player (even without progressive scan). I've made extensive comparisons of my Model 9 sig with my Sony 9000ES using CD/DAD/SACD. As much as I like the Sony, and I like the Sony a lot, the Model 9 was a notch above it in every aspect, including video. The real suprise was that on every 2 layer SACD that I've tried , I like the CD layer on the Muse better than the SACD layer on the Sony. Maybe it's the super bit mapping, over/up/thru/around & behind sampling or whatever the Muse does, but it's the best CD play back I've come across yet. A used Model 9 Signature can be had for around $2600. Good Luck

The sony 9000es needs more than 100-200 hours i own one and its more like 3-400 hours before it opens up and that is the problem with a lot of these comparisons of the sony,they were Not broken in or the people comparing would be singing a different tune.It also takes 3-400 hours of seperate burn in on the sacd side of things to fully bloom. You must hear the sony 9000es with decent gear,it will sound like you need a dac for the first 150-200 hours,after that you think well maybe i don't need a dac and when you hit 3-400 hours you will definitly not want an outboard dac.

I've been auditioning an Accuphase DP-65V. Nice piece. Great musical presentation. Very pricey. $4200 the dealer quoted me. Wondered what others thoughts were on Accuphase CD players. I'm sure I'd be doing myself a favor by listening to other CD players before plunking down this kind of money. Any owners/fans of the Linn Ikemi out there?

1. Rega Planet (old-style)
2. Resolution CD50 (used)
3. Resolution CD55 (new)
4. Any Muse digital product
5. Metronome CD2
6. Spectral 1000SDR; ancient history but very smooth, dynamic, and not etched, very natural sounding, includes
a very nice preamplifier as well; under 2K if you can found one used.

Get a good DVD player and put it through a Assemblge 3.1 DAC.It gets no better than this.