Okay......best single box reference CD player

Bar,

i don't know the answer to your question. it is very quiet and always reads the disc quickly and the first time.

i much prefer it to the Philips drive that was in my EMM Labs CDSD.

I have not compared it with players mentioned in your setup. I can tell you what I do know. I do know it is better than Simaudio Eclipse, and better dynamics than Esoteric ($6000 unit DV50) and Marantz SA-11s1. Andromeda has fantastic dynamic contrast, great detail and transparency, and a big sound, i.e. turn volume up and it will play very load with no distortion. It is $13.5K retail in USA due to poor dollar levels at this time. Andromeda also has a large offboard power supply.

Sorry my comparison is not more apples and apples, with higher price players. I did listen to X03SE in a store system, had not as much dynamic contrast as Andromeda, but sounded detailed.

I will go out on a limb and state that Andromeda CD player has one of the best dynamic range and contrast of any. It seems dead neutral as far as balance (warm v clinical). It has great detail but I have not compared it with the over $10k players, so I cannot state that it is best. Same with transparency, its great but no megabuck CD comparisons made. Thanks.

Bill

Audio Research CD-7 without question.

My Wadia 581se sounds pretty amazing...deep, warm and round, with lots of articulation at the top and a full, defined bass at the bottom. IMHO I believe that when you start spending 10,000 and up for a single boxed player that many of the percieved audio differences between these players are many times related to room acoustics, cables and power delivery choices.

If your willing to think out side the box, then the Linn Klimax DS is the BEST digital I've heard. It's like listening to vinyl.