Not sure of your budget, but I love my Audio Aero Capitol 24/192 (approx. $3K used). |
Greetings,
i would say Audio Aero, they are involving, have great tonality and are musical. I have the latest Prima model. It needed a little bit of tweaking to sound really good in the way of using Walker valid points feets and resonance control discs. Wonder why there are so few reviews out there?
Roar |
The Modwright units are great. I have one of the modified Sony 999 units. The current model is the 9100. Dan, and others, also do mods on the Dennon 3910. |
Einstein The Last Record Player |
Balanced Audio Technology VK-D5SE. |
Einstein CD player (einstein has only one model) is real delight for ears. Beustiful sounding CDP with tube output stage. Not cheap though ... |
BlueNote Stibbert MK11 tube CDP |
The Jolida JD-100 is a marvelous player. You can usually find one on Audiogon with or without various mods. I have Underwood's level one mod which I recommend heartily. |
Raysonic CD 128. Fantastic sounding player, replaced a Sony XA777ES for Redbook CD playback in my system and sounds MUCH better. It uses four 6922 tubes, is built like a battleship, and I couldn't be happier with it. Absolutely gorgeous to boot. Two friends own the same unit and swear by theirs too. The 6moons site has a rave review. Check it out. Good luck, Dave |
I third Audio Aero. After having 12 cd players come through my system, the Audio Aero Prima mk2 is highest in value and performance for me. It just seems to get everything right.
Arthur |
Thanks everyone for the great infomation.
Russ |
Audio Aero Capitol/Prima Cd players at their price points are superb; also their Prima Dac. Their distributor, Globe Audio does a great job of support. |
My Anthem CD1 (6 disc tube player) blew the doors off my $1000 Audio Refinement (cheap-o line YBA). Don't forget Sonic Frontiers SFCD1 or the Sonic Frontiers tube DACs. They are even better then my Anthem.
For solid state you might look into the YBA players with the extra blue laser.
http://www.audaud.com/audaud/JAN02/EQUIP/equip3JAN02.html |
Itsalldark and Dehanm, the Einstein Last Record Player is to be replaced.
Russb, I would strongly recommend the Exemplar/Denon 3910, especially with the post-dac filter parts swapout. |
The EAR Acute has received some outstanding reviews but I have not heard one. Still, something to investigate. Tube output stage with analogue volume control. |
The Jolida is a good player. The CJ DV-2B is a great player and I am still hoping that CJ will re-release this or replace this fine component. |
Rega players are noted for smooth great sound at several price levels. |
The Regas are smooth...I remember hearing a Planet a few years ago and wondered if it had tubes. Very warm. |
i have a vincent model 6, using 1 12 volt and 1 6 volt tube in the buffer stage. it retails for about $1800. i am using it as a transport with a sigtone shek d2 16 bit dac. i am satisfied with the combination in that it doesn't bleed my ears. the cd player by itself is perhaps on the transparent side and a bit too detailed for my taste, but it seems to be a decent transport. |
Second the Modwright units. A tube rectified one is the way to go. Great units and superb values. |
Raysonic 128 ... its too good for the price point, or any price point |
If you can find a ModWright modified Sony here at a reasonable price I think you would be happy. I'm very happy with mine,not a day goes by that I regret buying it. |
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Ayre C-5xe fits the bill.
Not sure why so many respondents disregarded your specific request for solid state suggestions. |
You could try the Naim CDX or CDS3 for solid state which is similar to tubes |
couldn't rec the modwright unit enough. please see the july issue of dagogo.com for my review; its the real deal.
rhyno |
The consensus is striking! |
I bought a used Jolida JD 100 Tube Buffer on Audiogon for a fair price & when I combined that with a Musical Fidelity X-10 V3 Tube Buffer the sound was awesome (the fact that Jolida is Tube does not mean the MF Tube Buffer won't improve the sound. I used tubes other then what they came with & it made the sound perfect. Also used Acoustic Research cables which are cheap at Best Buy but produced the best sound as they are Neutral. |