Arcam CD-73

once you get rid of the crappy op amps that are in the stock unit and put in better quality ones, it will compete with anything out there. i upgraded to the bb opa627's on mine. it's the only unit so far to keep up with my modified denon 1560ar, which has trounced every sub-$1000 unit i've put up against it.

A very nice CDP – don’t go the upgrade route, though. This is too pricy. Also, if you are willing to buy used, you can get an Arcam FMJ CD-23 for approximately the same price. This is significantly better than the CD 73 even if you maxed it out with all the available upgrades (to CD 92 specs) at a cost of over $1200 in addition to the original $800. An FMJ CD-33 is sometimes sold for less than $1150 used, and this is really an entirely different class of player than the CD 73.

If you are setting up your two-channel audio any where near a TV in your house, I would suggest you go for a DVD 78. The audio on these is very close to as good as the CD73, and the video playback is unmatched in the price range ($999 list, less used). I was absolutely floored by what it did for me DVDs, as was my wife.

Thanks for the responses so far,

I am useing this in a 2-ch only system, no SACD, DVD-A, or any other format. Only CD's.

Is the CD-23 an older model?

Yes, the CD-23 is a slightly older model. It was replaced by the CD-33 2-3 years ago, which has now been replaced by the CD-36. The 23 is still 1 of the best CD players you can find for under $2500. And it's selling for around $1000 used, give or take. Newmanoc is right, it will kill the CD-73. As it should, since it was originally 3 times the 73's price.

If you can find 1, try to get the 23T version. Which stands for Text. It has a different transport than the 23 version, and on certain encoded CDs the front LCD will display the name of the artist, CD and each individual song. A neat extra feature.

As for the Arcam i had a cd92 sold it and bought a cd92 again this time cd92T,differences from what i can find out are original had a philips transport and hdcd was pmd 100 with the T version it went to a Sony transport and a pmd 200,but im not 100 percent sure.