The best CD Player for the money

ESOTERIC - period no brainer

Dawgzdad:
I have enjoyed my Saturn for 5 years without any failures. In the early days, listener reports stated that better sonics could be obtained by turning off the display. So, I turned the display off and found myself sometimes jumping the gun on the initialization process, hitting 'play' before the initialization had finished, without knowing it. That caused the program to reset, which seemed like a malfunction. Since I figured out my operator error about 4 years ago, I have had only a handful of startup glitches, most of which were resolved by opening/closing the lid. I do think that one time in these past few years I did need to turn off the unit and then immediately back on to reset the machine. I have experienced no other issues.

jeez, this thread has been here for years...the original guy has probably gone through 2 or 3 players by now. In this day in age, the OPPO 95 represents the strongest bang for the buck. You would have to spend thousands to improve...the law of diminishing returns really kicks with this one!

Meridian 508.24...after all those years..still the best to my years..

The original post prompting all these replies is nearly 12 years old... Still the question--"What's the best CD player for the money" would appear to be a popular topic for discussion, judging from the answers Audiogoners continue to post more than a decade on. So here's my contribution (having recently replaced my aging digital separates with a new single-box player):

First, a caveat: I have no idea what the "best" player is in the entry-level high-end category (which, for argument's sake let's say is in the $500-$1,200 range.) Nor do I have a better idea of what most much more expensive (say $5,000 and way north of that) players sound like outside of audio showrooms, where they tend to be plugged into six-figure systems.

But for my money (which was under $3,000) the best player I found was the tube-based Prima Luna Classic. It retails for $3k, but their US distributor (Upscale Audio)has some open-box models for $500 less (or did, last time I checked.) I got one of those, along with a set up upgraded NOS tubes (Phillips/Mullard (real ones) and Telefunkens) for just under $3k including shipping, and the sound is heavenly... Deep, tight, bass (awesome, really), beautiful,delicate highs, and a very smooth and detailed mid-range. And the soundstage... Oh, the soundstage! Really good, from top to bottom, for its price. Are there better players? I'm sure there are... but I haven't yet heard one in this price range that beats it. Build quality (at least from what I can tell from the outside) and finsh are also top-notch. Warning: It sounds pretty thin and anemic straight out of the box and needs about 120 hours of on-time to really break in.

As to aesthetics, the look is decidely retro... (think of a piece of lab equipment in Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein). Some people love it; others hate it. Loving the look of glowing, glassey tubes, I'm in the former camp, but tastes do vary... Looks aside, I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a new player in this price category. It's the first player I've had in my system that sounds every bit as good (and in some ways even better) than my twice-as-expensive analogue end.