Wadia 381 vs. dcs Puccini vs. EmmLabs CDSA SE

It would be a big step up when going from the AA to the EMM. I felt the same way when I went from an MBL player to the EMM. But going from the EMM to the Puccini is truly a very very much bigger step up. Try to get a home demo of the Puccini/U-clock to compare with the EMM. The difference will amaze you and put a smile on your face or a twinkle in your ears. Enjoy!

I've never heard of an unhappy Puccini owner. I think I'll wait till the current digital processing is obsolete before making the next move though. I somehow think the next move will involve some kind of music server and DAC. I assume there will be some progress made during the next 3-5 years, espeically in the availability of hi-rez downloads.

I agree wholeheartedly. The next 5 years will bring about a sea change in the way music is played at home. High-end music servers that play music from solid state memory, a bit like the Memory Player from Nova Physics but even better. Music would be sold in memory cards like SD, not as physical spinning discs. No more transport problems or disadvantages of hard drives with their moving parts, error correction, reliability, noise and so on. Hmm...that would be just the time to retire the Puccini.

well, I bought mine Puccini in 2008 and added clock in 2009. In 2010 still there is no a subsequently better one in market. And it won't be......because time of ''cd'' is up. We are the users of last great cd players...

You might be right, unlike the wrong predictions of the death of vinyl, I don't think there will be a backweard look for reasons of nostalgia or sound quality for 16/44 once hi-rez digital is ubiquitous. It does seem that vinyl might just never die out for both reasons, nostalgia and very high resolution music source. Frankly, I think Redbook is sounding pretty darn good, but hi-rez can only be better - no?