Taking suggestions for CD players for a passive

The tube buffer (I tried one and sold it) simply adds a pleasing kind of coloring and IMO, distortion, to the sonics. If it works for you, though, enjoy
the effect. Probably a hell of a lot better than listening to my Oppo thru a passive alone.

And I should note that there are passives and there are passives. One that I heard (MSRP, $6,000) was much more listenable than the others, as it darn well should be.

I was just lookin for something newer since I have a Sony 707ESD built in 1984.

Dopogue, that is why you need the tube buffer to bring it to life. I have a few players around and with the tube buffer it sounds as good as my Sonic Frontiers Line 2.

Not so, Shakey. My Oppo BDP8SE sounds fine in my system (active preamp) but pretty dismal -- flat, 2-dimensional, generally blah -- in systems with a passive. Three such systems so far (I couldn't believe the first one).

Any cdp with a standard 2v output will drive your passive preamp just fine. Just a matter of flavor after that.

Shakey