How much longer will CDs be made?

Why do you feel you need to spend that much?, look into used Esoteric model 60 in either audio only of video DVD or even an Ayre that is also sold both ways and you will have soem coin left over. These are just examples and both make slightly older even cheaper models.

Why not get a new DAC instead. Your Sony is perfectly fine as a CD transport. You will need a nice DAC to playback downloaded music anyway. That should be a good enough justification.

06-01-08: Glory
You have a smart and wise wife, listen to her.

Put your money into HT for her enjoyment and the rest into analog.

Well said Gary, I agree 100%.

Cheers,
John

Digital evolves too quickly to make big $$$ investments in gear anymore (IMHO). Your amp/preamp are the heart of your system, coupled to good speakers with wire, you will be surprised at how much less $$$ you really need to spend.

If you are a Mac user, I can recommend the RME Fireface 400 digital AD/DA unit which when set to use the Firewire interface as it's power supply, it is the same as a battery power supply on a laptop. No AC noise, so you are quite far ahead of the CDP race right there. Not to mention it is capable of 192hHz conversion rates both AD and DA. This has been a tremendous tool both in vinyl playback using PureVinyl and digital audio playback. Digital is now computer centric rather than component centric with media to feed.

Now the PureVinyl playback is very interesting. For $250 for the software, you basically use the RME directly fed by your cartridge. Your digital workstation effectively becomes your RIAA analog preamp. With numerous filters to choose from (based on record label).

Start of with a basic turntable and begin the real fun. $$$ is no indicator of good sound in the vinyl arena. You will truly enjoy your system working with analog like Gary mentions above. Women are smarter than you think. :)