What's happened to the used high end market recently?? Sales are tough....:0(

As far as a great CDP, two EAR Acute sold on Gon a few months ago for about $1800 and $2000 each.  They are fabulous players.  I highly recommend them as a last player you'll need for CDs.  Get NOS 6922s and a high end power cord to get the most out of it.  I auditioned 30 CD players prior to 2006 and was dissatisfied with them compared to my analog gear until I bought the EAR Acute.  A new one called the EAR Classic, which I heard with stock tubes and an upgraded A/C cord sounded great as well but sells for close to $6K.  It has digital inputs for streaming.

Yesterday at THE show in Irvine, Calif, I had a very interesting conversation with one of the manufacturer’s who was displaying his wares. He is going to be bringing to market a great new product. We discussed his pricing strategy for this product, which I believe will be SOTA in its division. Essentially after I had asked him if he was going to price this piece at an even higher price than the current competing SOTA piece ( which is very well reviewed--but at a price that makes most people pale in shock) to meet his far east dealers requirement (higher is better...through the roof is best!); he replied...absolutely NOT! Why not, I asked him. To which he replied, because this would lead to the rest of the world having sticker shock and his market would severely suffer in those other areas. Smart guy, IMO.

@fleschler,  there is a EAR Acute mk2 currently being listed.
I must confess, I've never heard an EAR CDP.  Why the volume control?

EAR CDP can be run direct to amplifier(s) with the volume control.  Otherwise, the recommended setting for output is at 2 o'clock.  There really wasn't an EAR Acute 2, it skipped up to Acute 3 with digital input, then the two box version and now the one box EAR Classic.  The E.A.R. Acute l and  III begin life as an Arcam player. The transport mechanism and logic circuitry, including the latest Wolfson DAC, are retained, but everything else is replaced.  I heard the Classic with Prana speakers and a Class D amp with stock tubes and my CDs (Ramsey Lewis Down to Earth, Ellington & Basie Bands) and it sounded excellent.  The original Acute l sells for $1800 to $2000 used on GON.  Possibly more for the Acute lll.  They are analog-like sound with great dynamics and frequency response.  Truly amazing CDPs. 

HEA is fine but it has closed for today.
http://imgur.com/dZj4DPU