I am all in favour of all in one players. I have my plasma tv screen connected to my stereo system, for much better tv sound at the cost of just a cable, and for video of opera etc. With these, how can you not want to watch what you are listening to? Sonically a unit like the Oppo 205 is a worthy cd player, and probably better than many similarly priced cd only players, given the by now small market for those.
Dedicated Red Book CD player vs. "Universal" type players....
I surmise this discussion has been debated a fair amount but here goes....I'm searching for the "final" cd player. Red Book playback is important to me as I have an extensive cd collection and am not into computer based sound (yet). So, I don't mind grabbing and popping those silver disks into a player. What are my fellow Audiogoner's thoughts on a dedicated cd player vs. the universal (see Oppo) type of player? Does a one-box solution sacrifice some cd playback performance trying to be a jack of all trades? If so, can you hear that difference? Input and comments most appreciated!