JAFant - Nothing very fancy, but chosen for neutrality and high value.I did indeed buy the Thiel Audio Sony ES SCD-1 at auction. It played a few discs beautifully and then failed. Long story shortened, I want to sell it with its upgraded internals and a back-up NOS laser to someone who can deal with it. PMs welcome.
My workhorse is a PS Audio Stellar Gain Cell DAC/Preamp which accepts digital and analog inputs, with balanced, RCA or headphone output. Nice, flexible, affordable unit.
My CD player is Thiel's original Philips CD-80 which was their flagship in the (1985?) day. I use both analog and digital output. It holds its own in comparison with some newer, pricier stuff - and it's what I have and have known since 1985.
My turntable is a Rotel LP900 with a decent Ortophon MM cartridge. The Classé DR6 has a decent MC/MM phono preamp.
I store downloads on a SS memory card and play through iTunes or Audacity on my MacBook Pro using USB out to the PS Stellar. Audacity supports up to PCM 24/192kHz. These days most of my production session evaluation takes arrive in the form of emailed files or on a USB stick at 24/96.
The lion's share of my everyday source material is RedBook 16x44.1 CDs. Part of that is because I track producers, recordists, mixers and mastering houses to have a better idea what I'm listening to. I make notes on the jacket. And the CD-80 has good remote control and time code for easy A/B and recall.
I know this old-school and entry level stuff is less than impressive to most audiophiles. But it works for me, and I've never been embarrassed when comparing against other gear. But of course, there is something in the works. PS Audio is introducing a PerfectWave SACD player that plays everything listed above plus SACD as raw DSD out via their I2S cable to the Stellar converter. That will give me universal high resolution capability, which I have wanted for years.
