The Law of Diminishing Digital Returns

I have found CD players in the $200 range are good enough for my ears. I have several with different DAC's and a DAC on my pre-amp also. I have compard them carefully and the difference, if there is one that is audible, is not enough to be meaningful to me.

In comparison, I have a sub working at below 50 Hz and I can tell the difference when this is turned off, even on simply male vocals and at very low SPL levels. I find speakers improve dramatically up to around $1500. Above $1500 the improvements definitely diminish but are still audible. Unlike, CD players and SS amps, the differences between speakers of similar high quality from two manufacturers(at any price) are almost always immediately apparent and audible.

To me CD digital audio, after 25 years of evolution, is at such a good and consistent level of reproduction that it is now the recording/mastering studio quality, my room and the speakers that make the big differences for me.

the devil is in the detail and the price, however, compact disc players cannot create information which is not there to begin with. I recently did my own 'shoot-out' using my mcd 205 mac and s22 revox(under 1k new)with a relatively new wadia 302. Anyone looking for a 5% difference in overall presentation, would have been disappointed. late december i compared the same two players with a cyrus 6 and 8, and although there were differences, no drama there either. with ipods and turntables as sources, and so many great used components at a fraction of their original price, investing in a 'last-great' cd source may not be the best way to spend 'mad' money.

The differences can be huge or small...depending on how well you know your other components and how well you've done at putting those together.

If the rest of your system is 50% away from being all that it can be...another 5% may be a little hard to pick up on, not the icing on top of the cake you may have wished for.

Unfortunately, the goose bumps are at the end of the game...

Dave

Imagine two photos of the same subject by different photographers, one being a talented artest and the other a technically proficient hobbiest.
If one tries to quantify the differences between these two photos, the percentage difference would be small because they would both offer you much the same information on absolute terms.
However, that small percentage will likely be the difference between that which stirs you and that which is merely interesting.

These percentages we come up with are ridiculous!! 5% better? Better than what? Take TVAD's cdp. He has a killer player. I had an Audio Aero Prima. Yes that was a killer player, to me. Now, TVAD's player costs more than twice mine. Does it sound twice as good? Well he may think so, but I doubt it. You may think it's (after listening) 25% better. I may think it's...and on and on and...Me? The justification, the spin,$$ and of course the ole tympanics are directly related to 20% of_______. got ya!! Get yourself a mod and be done with it. Case closed.