APL NWO2.5 ?

As good as this unit might be, I would sure want to hear the Meridian 808 Signature Reference ($13.5K) before buying in this price class (assuming one could live with RBCD & DVD-A only). Great review in September Absolute Sound by Sue Craft and Robert Hartley. Apparently with this one you can hear a cockroach crawling along the far wall of the recording studio.

WOW NWO=WMD

I am unable to locate reviews of any NWO models other than anecdotal remarks by a few internet posters. Can someone direct me to a bona fide review?

With $10K in mods on top of the Esoteric mule, APL is at an unprecedented price-point for a modder. It seems like what we are seeing here is evolution beyond the modder's art to a branded, productized solution, albeit one with dual branding. Don't know what APL's marketing plan is for this unit. Word of mouth? Travel to CA for Audition? It's quite an evolution in the hi-end that the world's best player could also be the world's best kept secret. A unit that preportedly "crushes" all other uber-hi-end units certainly deserves broader coverage. Or has our industry become so fragmented that stealth marketing by internet forum is both necessary & sufficient as a promotional tool for SOTA equipment?

With the lights dimmed we might miss all the log-rolling.

"Buy the best source first and then work back towards the speakers. Only then can you know for sure how up to snuff the rest of your gear really is."

I agree with Drubin & Alex as well. Garbage in, garbage out. Each improvement to my modded CDP & upgrade to Vinyl in my system has revealed unanticipated refinement in existing downstream components & quieted the upgrade itch for a time. After you're done with the front end, you'll ID for certain what needs attention elsewhere.

Also, it's better to compare CDPs to the constant yardstick of great vinyl rather than to a another CDP. Having recently substantially upgraded both my vinyl rig and my modded SCD-1, I'm at the point that the best RBCD and hi-end vinyl is very close to a toss-up. If as reported the NWO2.5 RBCD is edging out great vinyl then it's one hot ticket. I'm curious which hi-end TT's and phono stages have been equalled by NWO2.5 RBCD.

Guidocorona, if it's 6350 tubes perhaps he's talking Joule, not Atma (6SN7). Not to quibble but the Atma MP-1 is far better than "reasonably competent."