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Law of Diminishing Returns - CD/SACD Players

I've been surfing through Audiogon reading many of the posts regarding the sonic qualities of some of the top tier cd/sacd players. Some brands/models that seem to be mentioned often are EMM Labs, dCS, Meridian, Esoteric, Audio Aero, etc. These players, however, are in the tens of thousands of dollars. I would love to own one of these machines some day, however, finances do not currently permit.

For those of you that have evolved to owning a top tier player like those listed above, what players can you recommend that would give 95 percent of the performance of a top tier player, without having to pay the price of a top tier machine? What does one have to pay to get that 95 percent performance? Does a Rotel 1072 give us 95 percent of the sound? Can a $1000 player like the Rega Apollo compete? Or does one have to move up a more costly player like the Resolution Audio Opus 21 or Ayre Cx7e to obtain the 95 percent? ...or perhaps one has to move to the $5000 - $6000 category of player like the Cary 306, Ayre C5xe, or Bluenote Stibbert?

Unfortunately, I have not heard any of the top tier digital players. I would love to hear from those who have had the opportunity to own or audition the very best. We all know that extracting the last 5 percent of sonic nirvana is extremely costly! What is the best "bang for your buck" to obtain 95 percent of the sound of a first class player?

calgarian
calgarian5355
puremusic
226 posts
 
Calgarian, The APL NWO-2.5 for USA is $21K and for Europe it's $22K. As I understand it, the price difference is due to the higher cost of the European version of the Esoteric unit.
calgarian5355 OP
146 posts
 
Thanks once again for everyone's responses. I wanted to update everyone on my quest for a new digital player. In two weeks, I should have in my hot little hands (just in time for my 40th birthday!..Nice gift to myself huh?) a new Ayre C-5xe. Given the fact that I've not had the opportunity to audition the EMM Labs, Reimyo, Wadia, Esoterics, Zandens...etc, I'm hoping the Ayre will provide me with a significant "wow" factor upgrade from my current Arcam CD92 player...and bring me one step closer to audio-nirvana.
calgarian
donbellphd
205 posts
 
Calgarian,

You may be happy with your new unit, a self-fulfilling prophecy. But to get back to the subject, I suspect a plot of audio goodness against cost would show a curve that started to reach asymptote a bit about a few hundred dollars and that would be essentially flat above $1500. But such a curve would need to ignore mystic, and be based on blind evaluation.

db
jkalman
298 posts
 
I think you would do great with something like the Ayre C-5xe. You are getting a top of the line CD player along with a top of the line SACD and DVD-A player, which means you can play all the formats out there right now in stereo. I have compared the C-5xe with the dCS stack and the differences are not large enough IMO to spend the extra money, perhaps 3-5% at most (if I must put a number on it) and the differences were all in the harmonics. I hear those harmonics on the C-5xe BTW, they just aren't as palpable.

The only problem is, the dCS stack was running on the B&W 800Ds and the C-5xe was running on the 802Ds, so it is conceivable that the largest part of the difference was the different woofer sizes and drivers between these two speakers (the mid and high ends of these two speakers are exactly the same though, so that wouldn't be a part of the issue).
mmakshak
589 posts
 
I didn't read all the responses. I came from analog(which I still have). My APL Hi-Fi Denon 3910(my version) did it for me. Yes, I've heard better, but better costs big bucks. I'de also like to voice my complaint against audiophile recordings. I'de like to mention a few non-audiophile recommendations. Tony Braxton's "Secrets", Santana's "Supernatural", Lyle Lovett's "Live in Texas", k.d. Lang's "Ingenue. These cd's, or parts thereof, are why I listen to music-not the Diana Krell,etc. that "sound" better.
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