suggestions for warm cd player

Get a Shanling and have it upgraded by Underwood HiFi. My T-200 sounds so smooth its kinda creepy because I always disliked digital. Love hate relationship. I have a $6k TT setup and its a toss up between the two. When it came back it sounded very dark and lifeless but after hours of break in, it bloomed. You can use tube output or direct. Theres not much difference. On early recorded CD's it can take some of the harshness away. In really good stuff the tubes and solid state sound more alike. I can tell my Kimber KCAGs sound better than my copper Tara's in either way. Yes cables do sound different as most here know. My prior CD player was a TOTL Rotel. It bested it in every way. Underwood mods other players as well. You can buy a modded player directly from them and save on shipping. And the Shanling looks cool. Retro modern and its top loading. Since I like analog its cool too. Mike

The Rega Apollo is a very nice, warm sounding player, definitely the best you can get new for the price

Original Rega Planet of your on a budget or Audio Aero if you can afford the best.

I know what your problem is with the glare ... what causes it ... how to remedy it ... and can recommend SS CD players that this is not a problem with

The problem is very real and a bit complex ... but I'm sure I can explain it to you and offer alternatives

On loud passages you get a brief but distinct glare that is very short and annoying in duration ... on low level or medium level passages your player sounds wonderful and the glare is not present

The glare is being caused by oscillation in the negative feed back loop of the analog output section of the CD player ... because the op amps can not deliver the required current to drive the capacitance of the interconnects on peak demands for current and keep the input signal balanced with the output signal in the negative feedback loop ...

The lack of current on the peak demand causes an imbalance between the input and output signal in the negative feedback loop and results in a momentary or brief oscillation in the negative feedback circuit which causes a ringing for a very brief moment and produces a glare in the presentation

When the peak demand for max current subsides, during low and medium passages ... and there is enough current being delivered by the op amps to the negative feedback loop to keep the input and output signal in balance ... the oscillation in the negative feedback loop and the ringing it generates subsides and the glare is gone

Basically on loud passages that demand more current the small op amp chips can't generate enough current to maintain linearity and the by product is oscillation, ringing, and glare

This is a very common problem that can be fixed a number of ways ... because most op amps are IC (integrated chips) with woefully inadequate on board power supplies ... you can find a modder who can up grade the IC op amp to a discrete op amp with much better power supplies ... Burson Audio comes to mind for this upgraded chip

You can purchase a SS out board buffer which is a 1 to 1 no gain current divider that can handle this problem but will require an addition interconnect and power cord ... the B1 by Nelson Pass is an example of this

Both these approaches may not be the most practical and a bit pricey for your situation

Or you can look for a CD player that does not use IC type op amps and negative feedback in the analog out section but instead uses a Class A no negative feedback JFET transistor based analog out section

The JFET's are very robust and can deliver the current needed to control the Interconnect's capacitance and because there is no negative feedback loop .. there is no chance of oscillation ... ringing ... and glare on peaks

The Resolution Audio Opus 21 and the Ayre D1ex I use are two examples of JFET class A no negative feedback loop players ... I'm sure if you look you may find others and all this fits your requirement of NO TUBES ... which I agree with

After hamming around with a few well panned mid price CD players I picked up a Denon 5000 in 2001 ... this player was much better than what I had been toying with but still had that annoying glare on the loud passages

I attributed the glare to echo slap and comb filtering in my room and felt it was a room treatment issue I had to deal with

On a lark I picked up a BV Audio SR10 outboard SS buffer to try just to improve the sound of my system not even think it would correct the glare issue ... which I still thought was room related ... and as soon as I installed the SR10 the Glare disappeared

I did not equate that the BV piece would fix the glare ... but was just looking for further improvement in my system

I definitely back into fixing the glare or you might says I stepped in $__t ... then my due diligent's enlighten me to what happened

I have two BV SR10s that are sitting Idle now because my Ayre D1ex has the Class A no Negative feedback circuit and I'm off the CD merry go round

I think the most practical thing for you to do is look for a player with one of these JFET type no feedback analog output section ... a used Opus 21 CD only or Ayre D1ex DVD player will run you about 2k and both these players have external outboard power supplies to boot

Meridian 508/24

since you asked the same question ( yesterday ) :

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?aamps&1268523977

Marantz.

I would suggest a YBA player. Have not heard the newer "YBA Design" players -- I'm referring to the older YBA classics or Integre series. Renowned for musicality. I picked one up recently and am test driving it now. The sound fits your description.