Rega Planet or Cairn Fog

Get the planet. Mine has never skipped even when people are dancing right next to it. It also sounds incredible. It's not the most analytical player, but it manages to convey emotion better than much more expensive players.

-Patrick

I recently had a Cairn Fog in my system for an extended demo. Great sounding player. Very detailed but never pushy about it. I wouldn't call it lush but it did have an ease about. I was very tempted to buy it, howver there is a reason for the "Fog" name. It refers to the logic used by Cairn in the way the thing works. All of the buttons perform double functions and lack a tactile feel. The remote is just as poorly executed, too many small buttons all performing dual functions. How a manufacturer could take something as simple as basic CD operation and make it difficult for the end user is just amazing. On top of that the display can't be read from just a few feet away. In my book the sound quality just didn't make up for the poor ergonomics. Just too many choices in the marketplace to put up with a badly executed user interface.

No matter what player you decide on the Wasatch interconnects are 'suitable'. I used the Wasatch 105u and Ultima during my audition of the Cairn. They are not well know cables but they do sound very good and have displaced some very well known and reguarded cables in my system. Have you considered the Jolida JD100 CDP? This looks to be the CDP to beat under $1500.

I second the Jolida vote.