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

My vote is split between Spectral SDR 4000s and Metronome Kalista integrated.

Ahhhhh...after all of this, I think that I will keep my dcs Delius and Purcell and have Nick Gown at True Sound make a few updates on my CEC TL -1 transport. Like a divorce...sometimes it is '' cheaper to keep her ''.

dCS Puccini, simple as that.

Kops,

I heard the $20000 dcs Puccini at a dealer recently.

It sounded as good as anything I've heard probably, but can you explain to me what exactly the dcs Puccini does better than say good players in the <$5000 range that justifies the cost? Also, how does it accomplish it?

Thanks.

06-23-08: Mapman said:

"I heard the $20000 dcs Puccini at a dealer recently.

It sounded as good as anything I've heard probably, but can you explain to me what exactly the dcs Puccini does better than say good players in the <$5000 range that justifies the cost? Also, how does it accomplish it?"

The question is, "did you hear anything you'd be willing to pay $15000 more for." If the answer is "yes" then it doesn't matter how or why, it's just that you want that and are willing to pay. If the answer is "no" then buy the $5000 unit."

Whenever you spend $10000, $15000, $20000 or more on digital equipment, all you know for certain is that someone will replicate it's performance within the next 18-months for half the price. You'll always be waiting for the 18-months for the latest performance advance to get cheap, or, at some point you'll jump in because you're happy with the price/performance ratio. That point will vary with each person. I'm guessing that you're not there yet.

Dave