Wich high end CD palyer?

Oh, this is too much fun.

I knew a guy once, who also thought he would save money and just fly musicians to his room. But problems came up:

* The London Symphony Orchestra kept objecting to the brass section having no room to play but in the garage, not to mention the bassoonist having to setup on the kitchen counter tops

* Most major religions were objecting to his trying to fly Jimi in

* His wife threatened to divorce him if he flew Diana Krall in one more time

* He had a tendncy to listen in the nude

* A favorite blues musician loved to eat beans... lots of beans

* Everytime he wanted to hear 'Start Me Up' by the Stones it cost him a cool million, and he was starting to wonder if he was really saving money

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OK, To answer the thread question: Almost every major manufacturer has a player these days in your price range - most of them these days are quite good, but they are all quite different from each other.

Burmester (German)
MBL (German)
Audio Aero (French)
Meitner (Canadian, but I know there is a Spanish importer)
Audio Note U.K.
Ensemble (Swiss)

There are a number of Japanese players, not sure you get these:

Reimyo
Esoteric

I am sure I am forgetting many...

Enjoy your search!
Mike.

With that budget I'd be sorely tempted to blow it all on the Reimyo CDP-777 (on reputation only as I've never heard it). But not until I'd auditioned the Accustic Arts CD player first for about half as much. It's one smooth operator and German to boot so it definitely meets your Euro Qualification.

I will get a chance to listen to an Accuphase DP-57 in a few weeks when my dealer gets one in, but from what I read in the Absolute Sound it seems like it doesen't do anything wrong. They are about 4900.00 new. You could save alot because technology changes really fast.

to sugarbrie:
while i agree there are some studios that spend tons of money to get incredible quality recordings, the bottom line is that the vast majority of pop, country, rock, etc. listeners will do as you said, listen on ipods or relatively inexpensive and not so great quality equipment. the music is geared towards selling to the masses. so again, how is spending $40k supposed to make rush or pink floyd sound so much better as to justify the cost? i would also venture to guess that $38k of that $40k is markup anyway. i used to sell audio equipment and know the wholesale/retail ratios in general. the other question is--and i'll preface this by saying that some equipment to me clearly sounds better than other equipment--is it really better sound or our perception of what we would consider better sound that makes us purchase these expensive pieces?

I wish I could help you with some recomendations and would like to say have fun in your search, and also sorry that such a lame brain like Stvncar has to bother this thread.