the res-audio cd50 *is* an outstanding cd-player, & can be had used for ~$1700. i finally had the opportunity to hear it on my brother-in-law's system, run thru an audio research ls-16 preamp, feeding an a-r 100.2 amp, driving proac 2.5's. i dint get the opportunity to hear it bypassing the preamp as my brother-in-law sez it's not really listenable, when comparing it w/running it thru the preamp. he also said it's splitting hairs between it & his almost half-as-expensive alchemist cd-player, when run thru the audio-research preamp. he *did* say that it's clearly better than the alchemist if comparing them both w/o the preamp. he *also* said that if he needed the money & were forced to sell either the preamp or the cd-50, and use the alchemist in his main rig, that it was a no-brainer - the alchemist run thru the pre was far better than the res-audio cd-50 run straight-in...
as i said before in this thread, i believe, if ya only got $2k to spend, the combination of a good tubed preamp w/your existing cd-player will net better sound than any $2k cd-player run straight-in to an amp. i a-b'd the same alchemist cd-player w/a $500 nad cd-changer in *my* system, thru my melos pre (and thru the cary slp-98, the short time i owned it), and i had the same experience - no discernable differences between the two players when run thru these preamps, and the nad was much better run thru the pre than the alchemist run straight-in. ymmv...
doug
