What s your latest buy? Happy with it?

Well, my latest purchase was a letdown. Having read several positive statements about Conrad Johnson digital products, I thought I'd try a CJ CF-2 cd player as an upgrade for my digital front end. (The rest of the chain is Maggie 1.6qr's, Belles 150A Hot Rod, & Music Reference RM5 pre with nos Amperex tubes.) Imagine my surprise when my inexpensive Cambridge Audio CD4se player turned out to be, overall, preferable to the three times the price CJ! The CJ did have a bit more air, extension, and resolution on top, but the lower octaves were anemic and uninvolving by comparison. Of course, the CJ had much nicer build quality. The Cambridge, in my system, was more musical, involving, and harmonically integrated. This has definitely taught me the importance of "in home" auditions. The search continues.

My two latest purchases have been front-end pieces. I bought a Michell Gyro SE II with OL RB250 arm and a Benz Ruby 2 cartridge and I am exstatic with the improvement that made. My vinyl collection never sounded so good. I also had my Perpetual Technologies P-3A upgraded to the Signature version by ModWright, and feel that the mod makes a very good DAC quite a bit better.

I also just got a Stan Warren modified DVD player. Well worth the very small cost.

Sugarbrie, Which DVD player did you modify, and what exactly was done?

I just bought 16 of the new small Iso bearings from Audio Prism. This new series incorporates a captive metal ring around the bottom, preventing the adhesive pad from moving off center. I have always loved these under my tube phono stage, and with this improvement, they are perfect (at least for me).