I listened to both players, as well as the Linn universal players and one of the Meridians off and on at my dealer's for about a year before I finally parted with the money to purchase the C-5xe.
If it were not for SACDs (you have even more than I do) and DVD-As (I don't have very many but I sure do love the ones I have), I might not have spent the extra money for the C-5xe.
However, they are not the same with redbook. Redbook on the C-5xe is quite a bit better than the CX-7e. My dealer has sold a lot more CX-7es than C-5xes because they are very good and really don't have much competition at their price point. For that matter, neither does the C-5xe.
I have been cable rolling my C-5xe and with some SACDs and XRCDs it is now performing scarily close to my analog setup (SME 20/2, Graham Phantom, Dynavector XV-1S and Aesthetix Io Signature with NOS tubes).
Although the manual does not document it, the C-5xe also plays HDCD.
You can't go wrong with either but if you can swing the purchase of a C-5xe, you will not be disappointed -- especially with those 100 SACDs.
Hope this helps,
Ed
If it were not for SACDs (you have even more than I do) and DVD-As (I don't have very many but I sure do love the ones I have), I might not have spent the extra money for the C-5xe.
However, they are not the same with redbook. Redbook on the C-5xe is quite a bit better than the CX-7e. My dealer has sold a lot more CX-7es than C-5xes because they are very good and really don't have much competition at their price point. For that matter, neither does the C-5xe.
I have been cable rolling my C-5xe and with some SACDs and XRCDs it is now performing scarily close to my analog setup (SME 20/2, Graham Phantom, Dynavector XV-1S and Aesthetix Io Signature with NOS tubes).
Although the manual does not document it, the C-5xe also plays HDCD.
You can't go wrong with either but if you can swing the purchase of a C-5xe, you will not be disappointed -- especially with those 100 SACDs.
Hope this helps,
Ed