Is it worth spending $10k on CD-only player today?

IME Fbhifi hits the nail directly on the head regarding one element of this debate with his assessment that

"Until someone has heard the latest generation of bleeding edge CD players, the question cannot be answered accurately. After they've been carefully auditioned, then all the discussion about how much to spend, how much is too much, etc. can take place- not before. Putting the cart before the horse didn't work 100 years ago and still doesn't work today."

I'll say it again, it is worth it to me. That said, I wouldn't want to impose my own priorities or sensibilities upon someone else.

I would agree with some of the respondents, get a moderately priced CD player and get it moded in due course. If you're interested in sound not appearence then this is the better route, the more any unit costs, the more seems to be spent on cosmetics. I bought a Shanling CDT 100, because it was the only unit I had heard to make classical music bearable on CD. I spent half the origonal purchase price on a Trichord clock 4, never connected power supply and numerous upgraded components. To me the result more than doubled the value of the unit. No aspect of reproduction was'nt enhanced, particularly the Shanling's weak base and soundstage depth. Colin the upgrader, recently put his heavily modded universal Pioneer player, a $300 unit against a Naim CDS, the owner thought the pioneer was his unit. He immediately had his Naim upgraded of course

I guess you haven't read the Linn Unidisk review? And what you are saying would be true for the vast majority of high end universal players. Redbook CD play taking a secondary role.

UHF magazines reviewers seem to feel it gets very close if not match Linns $14000 Redbook only player. And if you remember right Sony on hearing the original Linn in comparison to their own $8000 flagship player stated they were incapable of making a player of this quality and formed a partnership with Linn.

If your CD collection consists of discs that are almost certainly never to be reissued on SACD or DVD-A and if your musical taste steers you toward older music also "doomed" to not be reissued in higher res format, it is absolutely sensible to spend whatever you can afford to obtain a CD player that has the sound you're looking for.

NO, NO, NO, NO, No, NO!!!!

All you have to do is look back over the years and feel sorry for all the audiophiles who baought a DCS, Mark Levisnon or similar "state of the art" over $10k processer. All of these offerings can now be handily trounced by recent digital alternatives that cost less than a THIRD of their price!

IMHO digital performance has been just like computers. Every year you get twice (or more) the performnance at half the price. (Then again, some people are so wealthy that it doesn't bother them one bit to buy something that is considered antiquated in just a couple years. Wouldn't it be nice to have that kind of "throw away" money though?)