The best CD Player for the money

I tried the Sony's as well. Great units, but the Naim CD5 was the best I heard by far.

A few of us here really like our transport/outboard dacs. I really enjoy my DAC1 using a DVD player as a transport. The last Stereofool had high regard for the latest and fully upgraded MSB dac over the DAC1. I bet you would like either one. Check out these reviews, I think they might help answer your questions about the advantages of the outboard dacs. http://www.onhifi.com/product.shtml http://www.soundstage.com/revequip/belcanto_dac1.htm http://www.soundstage.com/revequip/belcanto_dac1_followup.htm Total cost could be, with a used DAC1 and a new DVD player, only $1k, not including ic's. Good Luck. Charlie

Jazz: You have a very nice system. You may want to try and audition the Linn Ikemi player. It is probably my favorite but usually sells for around $2500.00+ used. For less money the Theta Miles and Resolution Audio (I have only listened to the CD50 not the new model) are hard to beat for all in one players.

I heard you can get a sony 777es sacd for $1500 from some mail order places. I saw it in a thread on www.audioasylum.com. If this is the case, that is the cd player to get. If you are looking for something under $1000 then I would go with the Cambridge Audio d500se. I actually like the jolida sound better but the transport is terrible on it.

It takes out everything there is from the red book CD. I also spend a whole day comparing it to the Sony 9000, which fails miserably to deliver a credible piano, a Mark Lenvison 36S, sweet sounding but a bit too laid back for my taste and lacking the base definition of the 830. Good luck