Can any player challenge Audio Aero Prestige SE ?

To answear Mkilpi's first question EmmLabs CDSA SE one box is the best alternative and many miles ahead.IMHO.

Well I just bought the AA P-se. It should be here this Fri.---(The one from Parrotta C )I chose this player because of the 1box,+coax-in+ a pre inside. And the name had something to do,as well.Here, I came to this thread hoping to get some tips and such and truth be said;I mostly get back biting.---Do I need to go to another site to get some "owner feedback"??
I've been here 7 years--This kinda reminds me of the old days when Carl_ was here.(Every post he was in was WW#3).
No, I didn't listen to any of the player mentioned here. (Once in a while,I work)
So; while maybe ALL the players are better than the one I am buying,I'll never know till I buy another player.
I guess the only thing I GET, is; except from a dealer, my player is near the bottom????
The other parts: CJ 350 and Sophia 2's.

Hi George,

Long time, no talk! I had owned the AA Prestige SE player for about 3 months last year, and it was a great player! If one is looking for a CDP with a built in preamp, this, in my reviews on the internet (with the BS filter set to high ) and talking with others that own this player, is among the best. The only thing that I really did not particularly like was the fact that mine came with the universal touch-based remote. Not, in my opinion, a very good remote.
It is a beautifully built unit that people (including myself) deem a “musical” CDP vs. an “analytical” CDP.
Please also note that there has been an issue with the transport, but I cannot readily remember what. This surfaced after I sold the AA Prestige SE. I had no mechanical problems whatsoever with this CDP.
In case you are wondering why I sold it (I know you are George), I ultimately decided to use an integrated amp with my Merlins and thus did not want to have all that money tied up in a component that was redundant in the preamp section. I have another “musical” CDP – the Marantz SA-15S1.
Oh, one last note. The last time I looked, Audio Aero’s website info on this player was not really informative (i.e. links to reviews, peeks under the hood, etc.) and coupled to the fact that there is not much info out there on this player (except for a neat article written by, I believe, the Audio Federation in a comparison to an older version of an EMM Labs player) that researching it, as you noted, was difficult.

Best of regards,

David

Avguygeorge - remember that the palyer takes A LOT of time to properly braeak in. 200-300 h at least. At first it will sound quite good, then the sound will deteriorate, so don't worry ! After 200-300h mark it should sound wonderful again.

This is 'cos of the V-Cap capacitors used in all the SE/Signature models.

The break in time of standard, non SE/Signature models is much shorter (they use Hovland coupling caps). At least that has been my expirience with my old Capitole mk II SE and non SE models (but they use same caps as SACD Prestige, so shouldn't be any diffferent).

The Audio Aero is a fantastic player, avguygeorge and there are many people using it directly as a full preamp.

You well need some good footers, the black diamond footers are excellent but the Acoustic system topline footers made the player much richer and more relaxed sounding. A a good power cord and place the player on a isolation bass, I use the HRS but here a black dimond base might be just the trick.

I just did a shoot out vs a $30k DCS stack and the AA blew it away! So if you got a Prestige you will be quite happy.
Do not have buyers remorse the player is excellent.