"Best" of the "Universal" players ???.

I will second the APL Denon 3910. Plays all formats very, very well. The best bargain in high-end audio, IMHO, if you can find one used (they are not being made anymore).

I am also breaking in an Esoteric UX-1 (out of my system) that has just returned from the factory after having a double upgrade: "104 modifications" to the audio portion as well as the full video upgrade to 1080p including hdmi out. They have basically turned it into a UX-1P1 with the better UX-1 transport and supposedly amazing video. It should also play all formats very, very well (and better than the 3910, hopefully). In my system, the APL 3910 was more musical than the stock UX-1, hence the upgrades (plus the purchase of a used Esoteric G-0s rubidium clock)

I would suggest Playback Design player, and get a blueray, which just blows away the others.

Fplanner, very interested to hear further comments. Happy listening!!

Do Blue-Ray players play cds and sacds? I cannot imagine that there will be albums released on Blue-Ray as there is so much space on the disc.

Jim swantko, thanks for your input.
Ive never heard any Esoteric player, that's why I relate it to the Wadia 581 which I found had good detail. I am really hoping to confirm the Esoteric UX3-Pi has very, very close to "state of the art" CD playback.