ARC discontinued their CD players because the manufacturer of their transports discontinued production. I don’t know if they will bother to make another one. The age of the CD is over… just most people haven’t figured that out yet.
The ARC player is an exceptional player / DAC. While it performs both functions the DAC in it is amazing. I cannot detect any sonic difference between a red book cd playing on the ARC Ref CD9se transport and on streamed from my Aurender W20SE. I spent a couple weeks comparing it with the $22K Berkeley Alpha 3 DAC with streamed content and to my ears the ARC won… it was very slightly more natural and musical with a touch more bass and warmth in the midrange and bass. The Berkeley had ever so slightly more detail… differences on both sides were absolutely minuscule. Adding these two functions together for the price, it is quite the exceptional component.
The ARC player is an exceptional player / DAC. While it performs both functions the DAC in it is amazing. I cannot detect any sonic difference between a red book cd playing on the ARC Ref CD9se transport and on streamed from my Aurender W20SE. I spent a couple weeks comparing it with the $22K Berkeley Alpha 3 DAC with streamed content and to my ears the ARC won… it was very slightly more natural and musical with a touch more bass and warmth in the midrange and bass. The Berkeley had ever so slightly more detail… differences on both sides were absolutely minuscule. Adding these two functions together for the price, it is quite the exceptional component.