thanks for the input. The accuphase is way beyond my budget, so I may just wait and see if anything else comes out soon that will be more reasonable. I read the review about the Sony xa7000es in Stereophile and it may be a good choice, but I want to make sure that regular cd's will sound good on the cd player that I get. Has anybody heard the Sony yet? I'm also interested in the new Mark Levinson player but haven't heard much about it or the price of it.