Dburdick:
Or depending on what you are trying to do in the future, then why don't you consider a "newer" player for less money and then wait for the digital format war to end, and then go ahead and spend that money on a "higher end" model that plays in that format then. That's what I am going to do. I was going to spend about $2K on a brand new Meridian 506.24 if I didn't either find a used one either out there in the field, or here on the internet at a price that was acceptable to me (about $800.00 to $1,000.00), or opt for a newer "24-bit/96-khz." player such as a Arcam CD72 or Rega Planet 2000 and then either wait for the dust to settle on one of the newer formats (SACD or DVD-A), or wait for an affordable universal digital player to hit the market which will not only play discs from the newer format, but will also play my existing CDs as well. My advice then, it to wait and see if you could get a 2 to 3 year old $2K player for $1K or less, and then just sit back and watch the newer formats fight it out. Afterwards, then just get a player that conforms to THAT standard. You'll be surprised at the quality you could get at that price. At that price, you should be able to get a quality player right about now, something that was unheard of as recently as a year ago. That would be my take on this issue.
--Charles--
Or depending on what you are trying to do in the future, then why don't you consider a "newer" player for less money and then wait for the digital format war to end, and then go ahead and spend that money on a "higher end" model that plays in that format then. That's what I am going to do. I was going to spend about $2K on a brand new Meridian 506.24 if I didn't either find a used one either out there in the field, or here on the internet at a price that was acceptable to me (about $800.00 to $1,000.00), or opt for a newer "24-bit/96-khz." player such as a Arcam CD72 or Rega Planet 2000 and then either wait for the dust to settle on one of the newer formats (SACD or DVD-A), or wait for an affordable universal digital player to hit the market which will not only play discs from the newer format, but will also play my existing CDs as well. My advice then, it to wait and see if you could get a 2 to 3 year old $2K player for $1K or less, and then just sit back and watch the newer formats fight it out. Afterwards, then just get a player that conforms to THAT standard. You'll be surprised at the quality you could get at that price. At that price, you should be able to get a quality player right about now, something that was unheard of as recently as a year ago. That would be my take on this issue.
--Charles--