CD players in $2K range with balanced output

I agree with the McIntosh but if you want new only, they will be out of your price range. See if you can find a Classe CDp-10 - there should still be some new ones around although I think it is officially discontinued. Good luck!

Cairn Fog v.2 with the 'soft' 24/192 upsampling chip can be bought new for $1695, maybe even less? This has balanced (and unbalanced) outputs.

yeah so basically this is an afterthought question to see what else is out there for a friend, probably a year ago I picked up a krell KAV 280 cd player for about 2 grand. I auditioned it against all the cary models, the classe cdp 10. I really love the krell, and my friend was asking what is there in the 2k range for cdp with ballanced outputs. personally i think that for 2k the krell is a great buy, and it is very responsive (if you ever press the open button you might be startled by how fast the tray opens)

anyways just my $0.02 thanks for the input

The Consonance CD2.2 would be my recommendation. I bought one based on a number of reviews and listening tests at some of the local audio stores. I am very happy with it. If I was going to trade up, it would be only for a Resoultion Audio Opus 21, which is quite a bit more money.
Sonny

You should be able to find a BAT VKD5 player at the $2K price point used. Tube roll to your heart's content, balanced and single-ended outputs. Don't fear buying used.
Bigger bang-for-the-buck.

HDCD decoding is an added bonus.

I had this player for a long time, it's easy to listen to and hard to fault.

Best,

Paul :-)