24/96 or 24/192

Just make sure the two DAC chip are similar in quality. A great 24/96 chip will outperform a poor 24/192 chip, much like a Pentium III processsor runnning at 700 Mhz will run circles around an Intel Celeron runnning at 800 Mhz.

I have the new Cary CD-306/200 (not even shown yet on their website). There is a noticable improvement in most cases when I run it in 24/192 mode. Even in 24/96 mode it blew away my MSB Gold Link III DAC that uses 4 24-bit Burr-Brown DAC chips. The Cary 306/200 includes digital inputs so you can use this player as an external DAC for other equipment. I sometimes run my Adcom 5-disc changer through the Cary's DAC's.

I auditioned the Cary 303 but didn't do an actual A/B against the 306 side-by-side. The 306 may have a slight edge with 24/192 but maybe not worth the price difference unless you wanted the added features decscribed above. I could easily live with the Cary 303. I like both Cary models over some other high-end brands.

Thanks everybody I went with 303 from upscale audio and I could not be more pleased. The improvement to redbooks is fantastic. Thanks again.

There's a group of folks on http://AudioAsylum.com who have recently discovered the magic of Cary CD players (inlcuding myself!) One of them just traded in her Sony SCD-777ES SACD player for the Cary 303 and she couldn't be happier.