Best CD Player to drive a Power Amp direct?



Wow, I just got a pair of Aerius i's and for the
first time, running my Sony 707ES direct into my
Power amp sounds better than with a preamp. I
was completely dumb-founded.

So now I'm looking for a better CD Player and I'll
need one that has a variable output. I don't want
to with Wadia or Mark Levinson. Wadia seemed analytical
and very pricey. The Levinson has a horrible remote
and doesn't like CDRs. Are there any other good choices
under 2k new or used? A dac would be a perfect fix but
I need the variable output so that's kills that idea.

Thanks!!
eastside_guy
Audio Aero Capitole 24/192 ($6k)- hear it, and you will buy it. In fact, I bi-amp, and use both the XLR's and the RCA outs to drive 4 monoblock tube amps simultaneously.
Accuphase is another make to consider. I don't think you'll find it too analytical, but a used one can be fairly pricey.
The other two big boys to check out are the Resolution Audio CD-50 or CD-55, and a few(if not all) of the Wadia players can do what you need them to do. Good luck, Tim the Tire Guy
searching on "cd direct" in the audiogon search engine will give you 15 threads that are already archived on this topic. see:

http://audiogo5.iserver.net/cgi-bin/fr_srch.pl?&1&procsrch&3&4&

i'm sure you can find other threads, as well, given the frequency of prior discussions of this very subject. -cfb