Why spend that much? Just get a new NAD player for around $500. IMO all CD players sound alike! I own five of them: CAL, Denon, Marantz, NAD and Sony. They were all bought secondhand and are still working reliably! They all sound fine! |
I also have three DVD players for movies that are also used as transports for a DAC (Weltion TEK Khadas). JVC, Toshiba and Sony 7000ES. All bought secondhand cheap! That's a route you can do! Just add a DAC + a Monoprice cable ($5). More choices here from the Topping D10 and up! |
A $25 DVD player + $100 DAC + $5 digital cable will give you excellent and enjoyable sound! I kid you not! Don't listen to the audio snobs who only believe that you must spend $thousands for "great" digital sound! Not true! |
If you want anywhere be near "the" best you need seperates. Start with a DAC you like.
I recommend the RME ADI 2 and the Cambridge CXC at your budget. Shop around you can find them both for $1500.
I’m listening to seperates right now - amazing.
Better than Qobuz on 5 diff streamers or LPs on 7 diff carts. To me. |
If you want just a CD player, the Musical Fidelity M3s CD is a nice unit and can be had for $1500. Good internal DAC and nice transport. I have one that I use as a transport at Audio Shows. This is currently out of stock at the distributor but it looks like they are coming in next week.
You ought to be able to find some used units in that price range that will be excellent. An older Ayre CX-7xe is a nice unit. The Music Room might have one listed or will be listing shortly as I sold one to them recently.
Otherwise, a decent DAC and a transport like the Cambride CXC would be great. Pair it with a CXN v2. A little over your budget but I bet you can haggle down a bit. |
I have a Marantz HD CD-1 which has all current outs, then a Audio Alchemy DDP-1+ PS5, or DDP 2 which also is a preamp
Killer
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"...Why spend that much? Just get a new NAD player for around $500. IMO all CD players sound alike!..."
Well I can't agree with that but on the other hand I have used inexpensive players in some systems and I have gotten very favorable results. However, the high-end players do offer much more if your system is up to it. |
from what was mentioned above go with a Rega Saturn if you cna find one for that price.
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marantz work great till the laser quits, which happens quite often even on their top players, then you request replacement parts there are none available -- one exception to the japanese quality truism - so beware...
older sony players es are excellent, just stay away from the 5 cd carousel ones where the mechanism can break then it is brick
older cambridges, ayres and musical fidelity models have good reputations and good support if problems arise |
Cambridge CXC w/ Denafrips Ares ll, Rega Apollo (current version)...these sound better to me than my Marantz CD6006 which is a great low price choice... |
I had a NAD. It sounded OK but the auto turn off sucked. Sold it.
Current seperates sound much much better.
Anyone who thinks all sound the same can't hear the difference. If you don't just buy a used DVD player for $30. |
CDP or transport and add a DAC bigger gains this way
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in today’s age of streaming, i would have to agree with @grinnell
best get a decent cd transport (many out there) and dac with multiple inputs, so you can stream easily as well |
I agree with the suggestion of Sony ES players.
The high end ones were built like tanks and weigh as
much as 40#. For well under $1500, you can get one of their best such as the 707ESD, X779, X707ES, XA55ES, or XA555ES. Yes,
they are vintage machines but were built to last decades. I have
nearly all of the Sony ES players and highly recommend them. |
