Cambridge 840C, YES it is as good as the reviews

I think the player is that good. To say well you can get a player for $5000 that sounds better is like saying duh. Maybe saying best under $5k was overrated, but honestly this player is very impressive. Just pop the top and look at the parts....custom transport and all. Very impressive and sounds incredible. I stand by that and would like to A/B against the Krell and Ayre etc....

By the way, I went to hear the Krell and could not A/B it back to back to the Cambridge but it did sound good but it was a bucket of bolts. The dealer said he would not sell it to me if I had wanted it saying the transport was a ticking time bomb and I would be left with a 40lb door stop....but no, I did not want to buy it....was not worth it over the 840c! I also went into a local Tweeter to hear the Krell and when I showed up the unit froze....i.e., was dead, end of story, end of its life.

Don't believe the bashers of this player, it is a steal for the price.

The point here is that moderately priced digital sounds pretty darned good these days, whcih can but be a good thing for music lovers over-all.

I haven't yet heard the Cambridge but I did audition the Opus 21 in my system - I wouldn't want the Opus even at $1000. Just not to my liking. But Opus 21 owners love it, and they're happy and it sure sounds better than most top of the line kilobuck digital from 15 years ago.

So to each his own, audition anything in your system, and rejouce that none of us *has* to spend 7k to get good sound...although I would dearly love to own a Reimyo some day ;-)

Rackon,
I'm neither an Opus 21 lover or hater since I've never had one, but I'm curious what you didn't like about it?
Thanks,
Bill

Mr Bill, I owned an Opus 21 and found TOO detailed, if there is such a thing. The company lives up to its name RESOLUTION Audio. I found it tiresome after several months, plus the odd placement of control bottons UNDER the CD tray, and the 2 box set up seamed to be more gimickey to me than anything.
I currently have a Bel Canto CD1 and an Accuphase DP57 that I find are easier on the ears.

Associated equ:
Spendor S9
Gamut Pre
Musical Fidelity a308cr

of course your results may vary :)

Just to make a clarification due to criticism from some folks at Headfi:
The Cambridge 840C is an OUTSTANDING sounding CD player, and used to be my reference player, until some family tragedies forced me into selling off most all of my system.
I, at that time, preferred it to both the Rega units and the Marantz units, and sold all of them, except for the 840C.
I still regularly recommend the 840C to friends, along with the 8001 and the Rega Saturn.
After the tragedies, I then had to sell off the 840c, and most of my headphone and home systems.
Just recently I fianally purchased a used, fully broken-in, Marantz SA8001, at a bargain price, a used Sennheiser HD650 Equinox headphone cable, and did a trade on some Harmonic Technology Pro-Silway Mk.3 + interconnects.
Well now, my headphone system has NEVER sounded better!
I have never enjoyed my CD's as much as I am now.
I borrowed a friends 840C, and I think that the 8001 simply does more things right, and less things wrong than the 840C.
Right now, the 8001 is my budget reference cd player.
Maybe its a synergy between the Harmonic Tech interconnects and the 8001, or the fact that this 8001 has alot more break-in time than my first one, who knows?
Hope I have cleared any confusions that there may have been.