The best CD Player for the money

The Meridian G-08, a player that can be had for about 2400 - 2500 bucks is a phenomenal player. The best? I haven't heard enough players to be able to even remotely venture that it is. But when I put this in my system (modified AVA Fet-Valve amplifer, 250 w/ch), modified Airtight ATC-3 preamp, Audio Physic Avanti/Century speakers, and LAT International cables and silver/copper speaker wire, the soundstage, air, goose bump factor were off the charts. Stunning.

Essential tweaks in my system are enacom line filters and Dakioms.

Just wondered whether anyone thought about how so many cd's actually have hdcd encoding on them even though only one company has a copyright to it. Don't ask me which one I don't know. I have too many cd's that aren't SACD that I am not about to go that route. So which tubed cd player has the capability to do the HDCD and regular cds (many of which aren't labeled as HDCD) well and doesn't cost the price of a car?

If memory serves me correct, I believe the Cary line of CD Players have tube units that also decode HDCD. Quite expensive when new, but usually can be purchased for about half on the resale market.

The best cd players IMO are hands down YBA. I own a YBA CD1 alpha blue laser and have heard some other models as well (CD3 and CD2). As a vinyl fanatic I wanted a player that would give me the emotion of the music in a way that a good analogue setup could. For me YBA was the only answer.

Kentb, did you try Emmlabs and/or Metronome?