What CDP or DAC would you buy with $1,000?

Socrates - how was the shootout, and what did you end up with?

Socrates, so what were your results?

The Musical Fidelity was the clear victor in my system, to my tastes, with my music. With a Theta dedicated transport it had more air, more topend extension and was more open then anything I've ever heard, it was stunning in those regards. The midrange was superb, comparable to tube-based CDP's I've heard, very smooth, engaging and musical. Only real complaint was the bottom end, although very detailed it was light (much like the A3 amp) and ever so slightly rolled, other complaint being that it needed (an absolute need) a good transport. Hook the A3 24 to a cheap cdp (jolida), DVD player or changer and it sounded from pretty horrible to no different then the player feeding it. I ultimately sold the A3 24 for a Marantz SA-14, which is more different then better/worse on cd, though I ultimately traded a a stunning topend and air for more warmth, uncanny musicality and naturalness. I've become a huge SACD fan so the Marantz was an easy choice on that front as well.

I've gone through a Philips 963sa, SACD1000, Jolida JD-100 and one other player that escapes me at the moment recently, the A3 24 and SA-14 are beyond any of them, so much so a deaf person could almost tell the difference. I'll write a longer, more thorough review from my notes on all of these dacs and players relative to the other when I have more time, if anyone is interested.