Older Nakamichi Gear ?? Stasis ??

I enjoyed a Nak CD Player2 for many years and especially liked the MusicBank feature. It conveyed emotion moreso than the asian entry level CD Player it replaced. The Nak presented an undistorted but entirely flat soundstage. Addition of a quality DAC supplied the missing depth but revealed a gap in the response that made cymbals sound disconnected from the rest of the tone stream. Replacing the Nak with a dedicated transport eliminated the gap.

Definitely go with the earlier SR series receivers. They are far better sounding and the build is superb. They produce a rich, smooth sound that packs a lot of punch but is never fatiguing. I've owned a SR-3A since 1987 and just had it restored by the folks at Soundsmith in Peekskill NY. It is now the center of my office system and sounds better than ever. The RE series is good but a little harsh sounding in comparison to the SR series. It would be worth your while to seek one out.

I owned an MB-2 CD player for a while and thought it was outstanding for the price - $400 from Costco. It's only drawback was that it was rather flat sounding. I probably could have worked on it to fix that, but I didn't as I was moving and returned it back to Costco. I wish more companies would come out with good multi-players.

If you want warm get Rotel. I have a Rotel CD player, and when I bought it I compared it to several, more expensive CD players and found it to be very warm, almost tube-like in its sound. I have had it over 10 years and it still sounds great. I recently happened to play a CD through my computer, which is hooked to the same sound system through an M-audio 2496 audiophile sound card and when I played the same CD through the Rotel it was quite startling how much better it sounded.

Just to respond to the person stating Nakamichi separates as being sharp sounding. I did own their poweramp, the PA5II, and it was sharp sounding and got rid of it really quick. I also had their preamp, the CA7II, which was sharp sounding too. I held onto this piece for a lil bit longer. I was using stock powercords all this time, btw. Until a few years ago, I started experimenting with aftermarket powercords. I found the CA7II has very good synergy with Mapleshade powercords. The sound became lively, warm, and the preamp ran very cool. With the stock cord, it was as hot as a class A amp. I can only imagine what the PA5II would sound like if I had tried it with the mapleshade.