What seperates "hi-fi" from "mid-fi" in cdp's?

I was hoping for names. I've been out of this market for many moons and am looking for a decent player. There are budget contraints. $1,500-$2000. Like most folks I can't audition all of the players in the system this is going into. It is easy to say listen to your ears but it is often difficult to get the chance to do so.

I remain,

This would be my short list in that price range:

Audio Aero
Naim
Muse
Cary
Sony

You can listen to what you can, either at a friends house (ask on this thread/in this forum if there is someone local to you to you who has what you are wanting to listen to and would be willing to have you pay a visit just to hear - there are plenty of Audiophiles who'd like to show off their system and share conversation with a fellow crazy), or at a dealer. Do research here, through reviews, and other real-world sites like AudioAsylum. Buy used at a fair price. Live with your choice for a while. If it doesn't click with you/your system just sell it here for a fair price and move onto something else. I've gone through many components that way to arrive at the systems that work best for my ears. I haven't really lost any money, and have had a lot of fun along the way and have met some really remarkable people, some of whom have become good friends.

Marco


PS If you are in Seattle during the time of your quest you can certainly look me up and listen to either a Naim CD5 or my Muse rig.

$$$$$$$

Ncarv - I'm guessing you must have been joking cause that just ain't so. You yourself have an excellent example of a fine CD player in your own system that can be had for a very reasonable price on the used market (as can many others), and yet can compete sonicly (is that a real word?) with some far more expensive alternatives, and likely even better them in some systems and to some people. I'd say anyone who chooses price alone to be a telling criteria to judge this is making a big mistake, especially in the price range being considered by the poster. A fool and his money will go separate ways.

Marco

I agree with the above posts about listening and forgetting about specs and bits. I disagree with the above posts that say that 16 bit is outdated. The 47 Labs DACs are 16 bit are currently produced and sound very refined.

Having said that, some things to look for are a beefy (and/or outboard) power supply and minimalist circuit design. Also, manufacturers that pay attention to resonance dampening (heavy chassis) and shielding (copper case) usually have fine sounding cdps.