What Sonically is the Difference between a $1,500 CD Player and a $10K-$25K One?

An older Stereophile recommended list gave only two CD players an A+ rating.

The Sony 5400 CD/SACD player for $1500 and the $100,000 DCS stack.

In their opinion they sounded the same!

Draw your own conclusion.

Uh, they can’t hear?

You really have to consider all major stages of the operation of the player, this is why you often get better performance out of separates rather than throwing all you hope into one integrated CD player. 

The transport
The digital conversion
The output stage
(Even possibly input stage if it functions as a DAC)

Each stage should be carefully considered by any audiophile and maximized to taste. This is after all a game of preferences. But I do firmly believe that each piece is important starting from the very first watt and that nothing can be retrieved if it is lost further up the chain.

Sam

I think saying there is no sound difference is foolish. However, if your system is not resolving enough you won’t hear a difference. I just went from a Sony Modwright Es 5400 $3000 to an MBL c31 $9200 bucks. Mbl has better soundstage, detail, power micro dynamics. Clearly a difference. However, my system also has very well made components and speakers that are resolving enough.