Emmlabs CDSA

pupul57...yes it does have the upgraded transport which is better then the original..and i am ...also..talking about the $~12.5k player..the price with the upgraded transport...and the $25 player ...i am sure..is better then the $12.5 player. ...and for the other poster..' WTF could possibly make this player worth $25,000'...the same reason a porsche is worth $100,000....you buy the kia...it's all relative

very musical, great microdynamics & detail in a musically satisfying way. world class imaging, treble & tone. weaknesses incl deep bass depth & impact (vs esoteric XO1d2), build quality could definitely be better, slow response time. not sure my review is still on dagogo but worth looking at it if it is.

I think that is a really good way of saying it, microdynamics and detail, yet "musical". That is a very important area of performance to me, it really makes the music more intelligible, you get more of a sense of not only what is singer is saying, but how they feel about it. Hard to describe what I mean, but when you hear it you'll get it. Let's just say that it has to be on any short-list of top ranked players and the rest is ergonomics, personal taste, and price. I'm going to wait a few years before going the computer audio route, I still think that playing field has not sorted itself out and with 2,000+ CDs, not that relevant at the moment.