Linn Unidisk or Musical Fidelity kW SACD or ???

FWIW, I auditioned the Classe SACD 2, the Linn 1.1, the Ayre C5xe, Esoteric X-01 (and Dv-50), as well as a couple of other front runners...for the money the Ayre was far and away the most impressive. All cdp's were run balanced through my BAT electronics. Some sessions were longer than others and I was only able to a/b the Ayre against the Esoteric, but IMS the Ayre was a wonderful performer and I would recommend this cdp to anyone who needs an SACD/DVD-A/Redbook platform.

I ultimately purchased a new Capitole II and am very pleased with its performance. BTW, the AA Prestige has been about to be released "in a couple of weeks" for more than a year; one of the reasons I bought the Capitole is the trade-up that my dealer guaranteed me for the Prestige.

Islandear,

I've been watching for the Audio Aero Prestige, too. Based on the great reputation of the Capitole, it promises to be a good unit. I have been speaking to the distributor, Globe, and a dealer on the west coast. Both tell me that the Prestige has just shipped from France and should be available for a demo in New England (where I am) in mid-July.

However, I think I may have found my new player. I have had the new dCS P8i in my system for the past couple of days and I am shocked at how good it sounds. Sure, for the money, it had better sound good, right? But I had no idea how good digital could sound until I put this player into my system. I was half-expecting, half-hoping that it would not create this big of a difference. That way, I could be content with a more reasonably priced unit. But this dCS unit was a HUGE upgrade in my sound -- amazing 3D sound stage, incredibly well-controlled bass and silky smooth treble where cymbals sound like...cymbals! Seriously, I was floored. Redbook CDs were particularly good, due I suspect to the fact that the P8i upsamples CD to DSD. My wife would come into the room and just seem me with my jaw agape and shaking my head in disbelief.

If I can work out a decent deal with the dealer, I am going to get one. I expect that the AA Prestige will be quite good, but I love this unit. Besides, the dCS will allow me to run a digital coax from my whole-house music server into it and access its DAC.

I've found the information very interesting because I'm also looking for a new SACD. I was using a Krell Standard (bought used) and had problems with the tray that got stuck. I've also had a Shangling T200 for about 20 months: excelent livelike sound. But, its not reading only SACDs and is mistraking hybrids. Where I live there's no chance of auditioning these players so I have to rely on the opinion of my friends, on reviews and on the web. I've had good reports on the MF kW. The dCS its tempting but it's price is almost twice of the others you have in consideration. The Shangling is a tube sacd, this is perhaps the reason of its livelike sound, very impresive. This drives me more towards the tube like the MF and the Audio Aero. I hope you continue with your reviews.

pmatera,
This was fun and I am glad you and maybe others found it useful/interesting. As fun as the auditioning process was, it had to come to an end. I ended up getting the dCS P8i. The price tag definitely makes you swallow hard, but I new once I heard it that I would be fighting upgrade-fevor if I bought something else. In the end, I probably would have spent more by buying a different player and selling it later at a loss. I was hoping I would get to hear the Audio Aero before I finished the search, but I think it just got into the US. As you know, the Prestige uses tubes, and I expect it will sound fantastic. I was a little bothered, though, by the fact that it converts the SACD DSD signal into PCM. The P8i converts CD redbook to DSD, and leaves the SACD data in its native form. While the players take very different approaches to the D-to-A conversion process, I wonder how they would sound in an AB comparison. Both units are priced about the same, so it would be fun to audition them together!

I am not surprised to hear your comments about the Shanling. I have heard others complain that the T200 transport and pick up are unreliable.

As for the MF kW, despite the mechanical problems I had with the one I auditioned, the sound was very impressive. The build on that unit was almost over the top. It is a huge player and weighs a ton. The sceptic in me had to wonder whether the weight was a matter of form following function, or if MF intentionally beefed it up in order to make it seem more substantial to those audiophiles who tend to think pounds=performance.

Another player I would like to have heard is the Classe SACD-2. I expect it would have been a real contender. Alas, the dCS unit "ruined" my fun. After my audition with it I just had to get one for myself.

It is too bad you cannot audition players in your own system. There really is nothing like testing a player in your home. I brought home several players that I expected I would not be taking back to the dealer, only to find out that, in my system and to my ears, something was not quite right. Oh, well. Good luck in your search.