mcintosh MT10 turntable good or not.

I'm not surprised at you findings regarding the disc sounding better than the server, much downloaded music is highly compressed at a lower bit rate. I still think the people will win, and downloaded music is much cheaper than buying and storing cd's. My wife would love to have a two walls back that are occupied with software. She knows she's not getting the LP wall back, but I can see the gleam in her eye about that cd wall.......in fact she just asked me nicely if I could go through my cd collection and clean out 'some that I haven't listened too for a few years'. Her point is I have 4 large storage cabinets that were starting to overflow. I did clean out about 100 cd's, enough to clear up the overflow/clutter. Now I just have to decide what to do with 'em. I don't even know if anyone buys used cd's anymore....

Yes, I have a few XRCD's, they are pretty good, but overpriced. If I recall correctly XRCD's were priced higher than SACD, and are not quite as good as SACD, IMHO.

re: server vs. disc: you were comparing different players, not the formats. You would need to compare a server vs. a transport through the same external DAC using the same digital cable for your comparison to be valid. Under such circumstances, the word is that the server will win out, and for predictable technical reasons. Robert Harley just reported on this issue in TAS in a rather compelling article. The other case he made was for what he found to be far superior logistics of filing, cross-referencing and accessing on the server.

You are correct piediper the two units compared were useing there internal DAC's and the ones in the cdp are more advanced than the servers even though they are the same brand. I didn't even think about that.

Great Thread Everyone,  Several mentioned other Turntables at a similar price point.  Can you list them out for me.  Maybe 3-5 turntables that you feel match the MT10?  I would like to do a little research.  I’m not happy with the $500 Project that I am currently using.  Thanks in advance.

The MT10 was tested favorably a couple of years ago in the British HiFi World magazine where it was compared with a modified Technics SL1200GAE with SME IV tonearm and external power supply.  About the same price, different, but no winner.  There are several other TTs in this price range to consider.  I suggest going to the Stereophile website and the Absolute Sound website and looking at their editors' choice listings.