Hi Matti,
Well... there ya go! In reading the review in UltimateAudio Magazine's Winter 2001 issue..reviewer Jarry Kindela makes mention of his familiarity with the standard 9 and his high regards for its sound in CD/DVD,The Linn CD-20 at 16K more was better at soundstage and halographic imaiging, but the Muse 9 Sign. has the same ability to capture the recording venue in the same way and is as coherent as well ....Most of his review was for the redbook CD of the Signature model, noting the upgrades made by Muse to the Analog board.
The funny part is,I had just read this review and saw an Ad fo the Muse 9 Signature for sale only a few days later. Good timing for once!
I had also been concidering the cary 300/300 player. List is $4K but signifigant price drop on units that are now showing up used..my biggest concern was the fact that there are currently no less than "5" used players on Audiogon at the moment....That made me nervous about going with that model.I really like what I hear out of the Muse!