"tube" cd players?

The BAT VK5SE is an excellent cdp that is very expensive at retail. You can buy one used for around $2,700. Another good cdp is the Metronome I or II. You can buy a used Metronome I for around $1,200 or a used Metronome II for roughly $2,000.

Audio Aero Capitol is one of the best if not the best tube CD player available.

Ah! Tjoeb: made in Netherlads out of a Marantz chassis.

Hi Joeb-
The best sounding tube CD player I've ever heard was a Cal Audio Labs Tempest II SE. It was manufactured in 1989-1990. 18 Bit O/S Burr-Brown DACs and a Philips CD-4 drive mechanism - my favotite drawer of all time. It's kinda hard to find one used, but if you see one for less than $700-800 or so, I'd grab it as long as you could hear it. They were $4000 new in 1989 (gasp!), but were commonly considered one of the best ever made. It's a large (very!) two-box unit, with the power supply in one chassis and the drawer & electronics in another. Caution - it does not have digital out, so you can't use it as a transport - but why would you want to? I owned one for years, and heard one just a few weeks ago, and it's very musical. Non-fatiguing digital - what a concept! BTW, Cal Audio Labs still supports service on that model - they're actually still proud of it!
Good luck,
Ed

The Audio Matiere Tube CD Player was really good. It was designed by the same person, who designed the Audio Aero Tube CD Player. Also, the Cal Tempest 3 was very good.