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

On my $8K system, the CDP is 25% of the system cost (list price). Lower costs players are just not good enough.

On my $40K system (list price), the CDP is about 5% of the cost, and the analog rig is almost 20% of the cost. If you concentrate on CDs, then the CDP becomes a more important part and could easily go to 10% to 15% of the cost.

In a lot of ways, this is another way to get at the source first versus speaker first discussion. For me, I find I need a good source, but get more payback in sound quality from the speakers and the electronics. My digital upgrades are going to PC audio, rather into a new CD player.

My CDP tends to run about 15% - 20% of total component cost (not including cables, stands etc.).

Foster9: "To most we are looked at as crazy for what we invest in this gear". Yes, It is us against the world!! :)

respectfully, since price is an imperfect indicator of quality, i agree it's kinda silly to choose a component on the basis of a formula, as opposed to what sounds/looks/feels best to you. there are credible people who maintain that a <$1k rotel or oppo sounds just as good as a megabuck cdp and other credible people who really can hear the improvement inherent in a $5k player. personally, i concur with rdavwhittaker above--i've heard enough great $2k players that i wouldn't be inclined to spend more. which isn't to say, of course, that there's no difference between a great $2k player and a great $5k player--it's an issue of whether the degree of improvement is cost-justified to you.

Grandetech

Don't lose faith. There are a lot of members here who are very helpful and willing to share their knowledge. Few can be mean but don't let that deter you.

In my secondary system my CDP and DAC comprised 11% of my total amount paid for my system.

In my primary system my Digital player was 13% of the total amount of money spent on it.

I really didn't plan it that way though. That is just how my system ended up. I was paying more attention to how the music was sounding while keeping in mind what people have said here about component synergy and that even the weakest link in a system can make music sound crappy.

$40,000 to spend on an audio system. Whew. That must be real nice.