That is a good question. I will get to the answer after I share my story with you on my experiences.
I have been trying out different CDP for the last year. I have a Sony XA7ES, a very bang on the buck player
,Class "A" with excellent PRAT, new 5 years ago was $3000, today used $975. In its time ,it compared very similar to the Levinson 39 cdp which cost 3x more. That is my taste, like a fast player
So I tried the Sony SACD 1 ( didn't find it musical),
Gamut 1 , I liked it but coulddn't justify the price at the time,(very good).
I tried the Audio Aero MK 11 , I could never get it to sound good, later someone told me that I should of been using copper iC's not silver ( to late now).
I tried the Linn CD 12, the best so far, but a little on the dry side.
I tried the Wadia 861 which I believe is the same or similar to the SE ? (I found that this player lacked speed, poor PRAT ).
Then I tried Mark Levinson Ref 31.5 and the 30.5 Dac , I liked it it was very good, it was a contender.
I now have ended up with the EMM Labs gear,(still waiting) I believe is the best or close to the best out there.
Please everyone, that was my experience, sorry if you feel different about my conclusions. As we all know, or should, is that this is so much component driven, it is difficult to know how this CDP will sound in your system.
The answer to your question, is audition the 2 players, and even a 3rd and a forth, until you get very excited about your purchase. A deal isn't a deal unless you know that this is your player.
Good luck
I have been trying out different CDP for the last year. I have a Sony XA7ES, a very bang on the buck player
,Class "A" with excellent PRAT, new 5 years ago was $3000, today used $975. In its time ,it compared very similar to the Levinson 39 cdp which cost 3x more. That is my taste, like a fast player
So I tried the Sony SACD 1 ( didn't find it musical),
Gamut 1 , I liked it but coulddn't justify the price at the time,(very good).
I tried the Audio Aero MK 11 , I could never get it to sound good, later someone told me that I should of been using copper iC's not silver ( to late now).
I tried the Linn CD 12, the best so far, but a little on the dry side.
I tried the Wadia 861 which I believe is the same or similar to the SE ? (I found that this player lacked speed, poor PRAT ).
Then I tried Mark Levinson Ref 31.5 and the 30.5 Dac , I liked it it was very good, it was a contender.
I now have ended up with the EMM Labs gear,(still waiting) I believe is the best or close to the best out there.
Please everyone, that was my experience, sorry if you feel different about my conclusions. As we all know, or should, is that this is so much component driven, it is difficult to know how this CDP will sound in your system.
The answer to your question, is audition the 2 players, and even a 3rd and a forth, until you get very excited about your purchase. A deal isn't a deal unless you know that this is your player.
Good luck