If your whole system costs $40,000....

Grandtech, guys here could have given you a break since you seem to speak English as a second language and were simply trying to conduct an impromptu survey on spending habits. But guys in the audio forums love to blast and bash. The nature of the hobby I'm afraid. I should say some guys.

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Very simple. Spend as much as you can afford to spend on the best player for the amount of money that fits your budget.
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Foster, you are right about me. Can you explain the word impromptu? Giving me a break? Could be worst?

BTW, thanks for your spending data! You are one of the few folks answering the question.

Spend as much as you can comfortably afford. Base that on what sounds best to you. Don't try to "proportionatley" spend an amount, or you fence yourself in or out depending on the perspective. If the CDP that sounds best in your system is within your budget buy it. If you upgrade other components, as I have heard some do, your CDP won't be out of place with its performance level. I think the only time a price point vs. system cost would apply is a cartridge on a turntable. Example I wouldn't suggest that a person buy a Lyra Titan for a Rega RP1. No insult to RP1 owners but a 4500.00 Cart on a 500.00 Table would never reveal it's potential. My advise is put the sliderule away and listen listen listen, at least IMHO.

as a starting point to begin the search/comparison of components, i'd be it the 10-15% ballpark on 40k. 15% would be for a digital front end (dac/transport/pc audio set-up), not just a cdp. if i had to get a cdp only, i'd be closer to the 10% mark.

could be subject to change if i fell in love with something but it would get the ball rolling.

final answer...4-6k

what do i win??