Best CDP in the $4k to $8k range

Thanks to all so far. No one has yet weighed in the eclipse, so maybe there are better picks out there afterall. Per your suggestions, my local dealer has Cary and Naim, so I will check them out. The same dealer used to carry Audio Aero, which is when I heard the Prima and bought the Nova - they claim high failure rates and no longer offer this product, so my chance to hear the Capitole is lost - any comments on reliability issues? Re the Edge stuff, always like the amps, though have yet to put one in my system, Guy from Placette recommended Edge to me years ago, but again, finding a dealer is next to impossible, same with the 47labs - how does this stuff enter the marketplace??? The Reimyo is way out of my price range. And, I am thinking that the 861 will probably be too analytical for me... I really like the idea of toploading transports, which is part of my attraction to the eclipse, which is probably why I should consider the CEC gear as well.

if you have been playing lots of music (and enjoying it) on the arcam, keep your money. except for esoteric design and/or build quality, the vast majority of improvements in digital sound have come from the software, not the hardware. an ancient mac,krell,classe,proceed,revox,arcam-delta,quad,linn or other comparable brand sounds outstanding with most newly mastered redbook cd's. any can be purchased for far less than today's so-called state of the art units. by the way, those players in the 4 to 8k range won't make those old, poorly mastered cd's sound any more satisfying than they already do. many of the complaints about digital playback in its first 20 years, were the by-product of rushing software into the marketplace before the industry's producers and sound engineers had mastered the technology. it was a painful learning curve. designers and engineers on the hardware side know that the differences in hardware performance are almost entirely determined by your listening room, your loudspeakers and certainly the quality of the cd itself. there are lots of great players today too, but not one of which is anywhere near this price range unless you are paying for a conversation piece.

Hello Poonbean,

Have you considered the $3,000. Consonance Audio Droplet CDP 5.0 ?

Six moons recently raved about it here:

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/droplet/cdp5.html

You could add the ExactPower EP 15A power-conditioner ahead of it for ~$2,000. and have a 'killer' front end !!

Hope this helps !

The Krell SACD Standard is one-hell-of CD player. Killer looks (in Black), outstanding sonics, Stereophile A+ rating and built like a tank with 5-year warranty. It's the best CD Player I've heard priced south of the $12,000 Classe top-loader SACD/CD player. It's worth taking a listen to and hey it's made-in-the-USA!

A Stello CDT200 via a TacT S2150X or a LyngdorfAudio TDA2200 is in your price range, and would make an excellent redbook playback system. It would also give you more power, eliminate the need for a separate preamp & amp(less cables), plus give you digital EQ, crossovers and room correction.