"Old" vs. "new" digital equipment

Bikecommuter, take a look at my thread entitled: Reference DACS: An overall perspective along with my reviews of the Accustic Arts DACS ( MK4 and the Tube Hybrid reference) for lots of details concerning new/old digital front ends and the difference in DACS sonicly.

Eweedhome,

You're right -- not the answer I was hoping for, but one I suspected might come. Thanks for the response.

Teajay,

Will do. Thanks.

Any other thoughts or ideas out there?

David

If you are looking for the best digital playback definitely the Nova Physics Memory Player is a must hear. Short of that a Raysonic 168 with cryoed NOS tubes, and Herbie Tube Dampers is an outstanding compromise. And a mere $2500!

With CD being the "Flawed" source it is, it is amazing how much money we spend trying to make a format better. I know I have over the years. The problem is, as you go up in quality, the more flaws become apparent. If you offer every last degree of transparency in a player, you might not like what you ultimately hear. I suppose the best players are for the best CD's only. Otherwise, we have surpassed the quality of the source itself (and for what?)
With that said, some CD's just don't sound natural and all the CD players in the world are not going to change that.
Contrary to what a lot believe, SACD is the better format and strings sound realistic (of course they are poor SACD's too.) Go for pure DSD. I know SACD is a niche market but there's still a lot out there available and it does sound better (lot of the music you are refering to here.)
Otherwise, good vinyl is the only way to go.
I think you will chase your tail and spend a lot of money with CD and never get where you want to be.
I used the Vandersteen 3a Sigs with a pair of 2WQ's for years and your system is very good. My suggesdtion would be to upgrade your preamp to a ARC Reference II or III. I personally feel it would be money well(better) spent (other than on a CD player.) You would be surprised at the improvement over the older ARC preamp.
If you MUST go for a new CD player, I would spring for a Wadia 861 or 861se. They go around less than 5k for the 861 and a touch over for the se model(which is a substantial upgrade.) If they don't sound correct, you're just out of luck with CD!

I'll say it again-"without exceptional power conditioning & isolation of your digital souces AC" you simply have not heard 'anywhere near' the potential of CD playback.
WADIA 581 provides "twin 'fully balanced' sheilded toroidal transformers that are electrically, mechanically and accoustically isolated from the other components"...
Bigtee, not to argue, I continue to find that enhanced digital playback makes "most" of my CD's more enjoyable, revealing more of the artists 'art' and depth of sensitivity-and I'm feel we have not reached the playback potential of digital sound yet. Just reviewed the April/May TAS and found interesting items in digital playback. I too preferred the sound quality of SACD.Cheers