What's the "worst" cdp for the money?

this is a great thread...i thought it was gonna be deleted the day it started...i'm an el cheapo combi player user and i have to agree that the higher $$$ machines sound better...at least the Cary player i tried in my system sure did...my next system will definitely have a better player.

now what i think is really funny is when somebody ups to some super esoteric CDP...I dunno...something like a DCS stack...and then start talking about how much the $5000 players suck.

and before all you DCS guys start beating up on me...yes...I did listen to it...with other good equipment...and yes...my jaw dropped and all those other things...but cmon...really now...hahaha

And for the record - er, CD - ;) I don't think that my Shanling CD player is junk.....I will be using NOS Western Electric 396A's - I just got to get it hooked up....Same with the Genki - Both players have gotten Excellent reviews in (and out of) the press. It's just a matter of taste. As an analogy - most 'critcs' gave mediocre and poor reviews to the latest Star Wars movie, whereas I saw it for the first time this weekend, and thought it was Excellent.

OK I finally got around to hooking up the Shanling - it sounds Great! So it is just a matter of opinion (IMO - LOL)

Other parts of system

Shanling CD-T100 CD
Linn Kremlin Tuner
Parasound Halo P3 Preamp
Behringer T1951 Tube Parametric EQ
Monster Power MPA2250 Power Amp
Monster AV2000 Sig Series Regulator
B&W CDM-1 SE's
Earthquake Supernova 10" Subwoofer

All sounds incredible....

Nothing is as crappy now as it was back in the 70's when I was in collge. Tech Hi Fi in Amherst Ma talked me into buying a Dokoder MK 50 cassette recorder for about $150. That would be about $1000 now. Had a spinning light on top to tell you the motion the tape was playing. It worked fine (sound was crap) for 5 years, then died. CD's weren't invented yet, so I just started listening to vinyl. Would have saved all my old LP's if I had known. Sorry to get off of the worst CDR string!

This thread is the complete polar opposite of Stereophile, and I'm loving it!
And just because the manufacturer of the cdp I own is mentioned three different times here, I take no offense, and perhaps I will learn something. I have a cdp to mention here, it's not a big $$$$ unit, but I couldn't get it out of my system (both literally and figuratively speaking) fast enough. Marantz SA8260 (including sacd playback), which Sphile continues to rate as a class A component. A real POS IMO. ;-)