Has anyone heard meridian No 51

I am doing that now (running the RT-20 digitally through the Theta DACs. Are you suggesting that no player (i.e. Levinson 51 on analog bypass) will outperform digital link and Theta extreme DAC? I do have a mediocre digital cable however. I am about to audition a couple. Any thoughts? No mega buck digital cable?

Yes, was in a rush...sorry.

Yes, I'm suggesting that the Theta will be very competitive especially with Levinson gear which
Has never proven to be better than Theta in my experience.
And Levinson digital is mediocre at best.

May be more supportive if you were pursuing a Reimyo 777, which will have a distinct difference from the theta, better will still be subjective.

You have the right gear although I don't like your amplifiers at all on the speakers you've selected but that's another thread and obviously debateable.

As a new audiophile be very careful about buying by the label and following the flightpath of very unsuccessful audiophiles to the marginal zone, where money invested becomes conflicted with the systems daily percieved value. Using only $20K you want to spend on a player I could upgrade the sound by replacing your entire system but that is what 12 years of design and sales experience will get you. So enjoy the great equipment that you own and start building a proper acoustic environment around your new pet and learn about what you already have before you start adding superflous components which will likely be dissapointing versus what you already have.

By about an $80-120 cable, that's all you'll need make sure it is 75ohms and be done.

Audiophiles have a bad habit of thinking that two channel cd players are better than the prepro's...they typically are not.

I have heard that about the amplifiers. Maybe that is the stuff of another thread, but what were you thinking...solid state, better tube? I have a higher quality digital cable being delivered today for demo so hopefully that will be elicidating. Thanks for your comments so far.

BTW I don't WANT to spend 20K on a player. I want to find the best path to better sound for the least amount of $$$$:-)

You have an awesome start, now when you get ahead cruise a little,

Finish the surround system and consider room acoustics, then IF the Levinson 51 is all that an a bag of chips your system will be ready to take full advantage of its superiority.

Right now for a beginner you're golden, enjoy.