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Crazy to buy a 17 year old CD Player?

My ARC CD2 just died...I think the laser finally gave up the ghost.  Any how I've got thousands of red book CDs in my library and need a replacement player.  I'm thinking an ARC CD 3MKII or the Mark Levinson 390S.  Am I crazy to be thinking this?  Got a budget of around $2000.00.  My system, though dated, is made up of higher end stuff: ARC 25 pre amp, ARC VT 150 mono amps, VPI TNT IV, Wilson Witts, all running through Transparent Reference (Balanced).
cmcdaniel5
randy-11
1,913 posts
 
if you weren't crazy you wouldn't be here

Do this: buy the best Oppo (~$1200) which has a return privilege, and test it vs. any high end used player you are thinking about

DACs have advanced greatly in recent years so old may not be so great

or... rip all your CDs onto a Lossless format and just get a good DAC unit

I do the latter and enjoy them on my own ARC 25 II pre amp and big Maggies
jl35
3,938 posts
 
Though some prefer the sound of older players, the risk is that old transports and lasers usually cannot be replaced 
gdnrbob
4,417 posts
 
I would buy a current CD transport, like a Rega Apollo, McCormack DAC-1. Both are good CD Players by themselves, but you can add an external DAC like an Ayre Codex or Schiit Gungnir or Yggy and get really high fidelity. I think your (excellent) components would benefit from it.
Bob
sunseekerespana
12 posts
 
An old but maybe good at the time DS DAC can be hammered nowadays. You are in for a treat! I would look for a used Audio Note 3.1 balanced. Great tubed R-2R DAC with no up sampling or filter, dead smooth and analogue sounding. Just real and IMO a classic.
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