Differences in CD players? Am I crazy?

Instead of listening for how it sounds, try listening for what it does. For example, put on some cut that you know has a melancholy sound, and then compare the players to discover which rendition makes you feel sadder. Or, put on a cut that is so complex it sounds like a meaningless jumble and discover which player puts out a more musically discernable message.

I had the opposite experience. Was using a two-year-old $3600 transport/DAC combination and, after reading about a potentiial 'giant killer' in The Absolute Sound, I inserted a $300 Pioneer DV-414 CD/DVD player (which we already owned) in place of the $3600 system. Simply blew it away, as confirmed by a number of audiobuddies who couldn't believe it either. I had it modified by John Hillig (Musical Concepts) and used it happily in a multi-kilobuck system for years until replacing it with a Sony XA-777ES.

Ok, I went to the shop last night and compared my CD player to the modded one. It blew me away. I was listening to it on a pair of FAB One speakers and an antique sound labs tube amp, also modded. When they switched from the modded player back to mine, I heard the depth of the music shrink down instantly. All the sound was coming from the front of teh speakers, whereas before, it was coming from about 10 feet behind them. As well, with the modded player I could localize the different instruments in space, above me, to the left, farther back etc. I couldn't believe it. He also switched his 500 dollar carbon cable for my 85 dollar copper ones and it was a tremendous difference.

I'm sold! I couldn't believe it!

I feel your pain. I think the problem with this sort of thing are the reviews. They say things like: "the depth of the soundfield is astonishing!" "I rediscovered my record collection all over again" "The difference was day and night" I don't have the systems that others here do, but I have good stuff. Creek 5350se amp, Vandersteen speakers. I've bought three DAC's, and a couple of CD players, and believe me the change is minimal at best. To top it off, my buddy has SACD, and he brought his player over and hooked it up in my system. He some SACD disks that I had the CD of, and we played them at the same time. This was not double blind or anything, but neither of us could tell which was which. Caveat Emptor

OhMyGod: We have created another one of us. And the moon isn't even full.