No longer sitting on the fence

Have you checked out the Esoteric stuff that has been getting a lot of overwhelmingly postive ink in Stereopile? It is supposedly among the best on redbook and SACD from the latest buzz, with the stillborn DVDA format thrown in for good measure, all at 1/2 to 1/5 the cost of the dCS setup, depending if you go one or two box....

I thought I would update, I found an Audio Aero and had an extended listening sessions with the Capitole. I found it a wonderful warm sounding cd player but it just wasn't 4K better than my Cary 306/200. The dealer also carried the dCS line and had a complete dCS digital system including the new Verdi transport. No question about it, the best digital I have ever heard. I have decided to save some money and buy dCS used gear, probably one piece at a time as I couldn't afford a complete system at once. Thanks for all the input.

From what I've heard, all of the Capitoles that came out this year are excellent, and very reliable. I called the distributor and asked them about this stuff.
Regarding the players from last year, and all of the chip replacments, there were a few that had weird software problems and playback issues. From what I've heard, Audio Aero replaced the whole board on those players. The majority of the chip "problems" were software/display related, accessing track skipping and minor stuff like that, but they always played; it's not like the owners didn't have music. The newest players don't have those problems; they've worked the "bugs" out.
When I think about reliability, I think more in terms of "does it break down and not play?", not in terms of it showing every display option known to man. (that I don't care about anyway)
But hey, I've been a turntable guy for many years too, so a little aggravation, lack of display features and manual operation doesn't scare me! :-)

Thank you everyone for your input. I am going to look at all the recommndations. Good listening to all...Robert

I would not trade my Audio Aero for anything out there. I bought mine used here on Audiogon and I love it. It has several digital inputs so I use it for my main Cd player, I use the coax for my DVD player(two channel) and I use the toslink for my Yamaha CD player for when I want to play multiple CDs without having to get up to change.

You may want to also consider going the route of EmmLabs DAC6 with a modifed transport by Ed Meiner. This seems to be the latest rage amongst some "connoisseur" AudiogoN members. One A'goNer sold his Linn CD12 in favor of this set-up. I don't know the price though and how well this would match with your budget. However, with 5,000 redbook CDs, it's worth it to check out every option you can lay your hands on.
http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue4/meitnerdac.htm
http://www.highfidelityreview.com/firstlook/meitner.asp
Good luck.

I have owned a Capitole Mk 2 since they were introduced about a year ago. Just because they have the P4 chip doesn't mean all is well. I had a list of about 15 different problems with the Capitole and finally had to send it in and have a complete circuit board replacment. It seems to be working fine other than the fact that the counter still won't acurately read the remain time on a track, it doensn't seem like to much to expect a 9k CD player to perform flawless, which Audio Aero players don't. I also have the Audio Aero Prima CD player in another system and after a month it is now having problems with the display fading in and out. Certainly don't buy Audio Aero gear based on reliablility or build quality, they are very weak there. As far as sound goes they are fantastic, the Prima is a steal, it's close to as good as the Capitole Mk 2. Customer support is good, they are very interested in making sure their players are working as they should. Basically if sound quality is not your number one priority I would look for something besides Audio Aero, cause really thats all they have going for them.

Rec I'm behind you in the collection stakes but I made a similar descision regarding my next upgrade.
I'm not familar with your player but have you considered the Ayre CX-7?
It adds a little something extra to CD replay imho.
Will work well with older CD's.

Rec, check this out. Written by another analog snob who now owns Audiomeca and actually prefers it over his analog rig.

http://www.tnt-audio.com/sorgenti/enkianthus_e.html

If you are interested in the AA, you may also want to check into the Audiomeca. Utilizes 24/192 upsampling dacs made by Anagram. The newer models have excellent reliability. Available in Player or transport/dac combinations. Just be sure to look at the "X" models, which are using the newest and latest Anagram technology.

Extremely smooth and analog sounding, great build quality, balanced connectors and upgradable digital architecture. For some strange reason, the french do a great job with digital even though Anagram is Swiss technology .

First time I ever heard digital rival analog, and in many respects actually betters it in many respects.

Extremely hard for me to say being a 35 year analog listener.

With 5K CD's I would be wanting to perfect that old Redbook setup rather than get into the SACD Fray!

You know,most technologies do not get perfected until the next new tech comes along. Then it's keeping up with subtle changes. I read that somewhere and it seems to make sense. Analog playback has advanced alot after Digital came on the scene.Now TT's are so expensive I can get a killer used TT for practicly a dime on the dollar.

Someone posted that a Dual TT was junk and to take any offer on it.I have a Dual TT and consider it a pretty fair TT for the $$. They do not make them anymore and that is fine.Kinda like a collectors piece.