have u heard Conrad Johnson's tube CD player?

It is basically a DR-1 and D/A-2B in a single chassis, so the descriptions for those components describes a D/V-2B. It looks just like the DR-1. I have owned one for several years and have been very happy with it. It does not have the last degree of resolution of some of the very high end players like the Levinsons, but it is very musical and really gives up very little compared to those players. I would not hesitate to put it up against players that cost many times more. The fact that you can find a used one for around $1000 makes it a great bargain. I have auditioned some very nice players since owning this one but have never felt that overall they were much of step up so I'm sticking with the CJ.

For what it's worth, My experience with CJ cd playback was less satisfactory than Hermans. I was shopping for a new player and phoned a well regarded CJ dealer and discusssed their product line. The store's owner suggested I try their non-tubed unit priced a bit less than the tubed model, stating that it offered 90% of the tubed unit's performance. I was willing to buy the tubed unit, but started with the less expensive model at the shop's suggestion. He said the sonic signature was very similar. My initial impression was lukewarm. VERY easy to listen to, but also lacking in detail, "air" and bass response/tautness. I found it in fact to not be as satisfactory as the much less expensive Cambridge cd4se player I was using. Build quality was very nice though. After discussing it with the shop, we determined that CJ wasn't my brand. Eventually, I ended up using a Sonic Frontiers Assemblage Platinum 2.7 dac with the Cambridge as a transport. This combination was light years better than the CJ in my system and to my ears. Obviously, my experience was quite different than Herman's, so these things are system dependent. I know this isn't exactly relevant to your question, but I couldn't find much about CJ players when I was looking, so I thought I'd share what I could. Good luck, Will.

I owned one, sold it and bought another one because I missed it. It is not the most detailed CD player out there and it is not going to give you bass slam but it is very musical and is wonderful for classical music and female vocals. It has the ability to make even the worst sounding CDs listenable. If you buy one do some experimenting with NOS tubes. I am using Mullards and am very happy. This player is not for everyone but you do not see many used ones for sale so I can only assume that most people who have them are happy and don't want to part with them.