Your pick of CD player....

Thanks for all the info so far guys. I am going to be using Dans own pre amp SWL 9.0SE .I believe in Dan's products.. and what he does to make his modded Sonys truly great according to many who have gone this route. Now that said..I just have an aversion to bringing home a SONY to be the center piece of my Audio system. I have awefull memories of owing them, and was a certified Sony basher in the 80's.(mostly a fundimental philosophical issue with a huge company that was just out to sell as many products as possible..I felt Id rather support the smaller home grown talent)and yes...I know the AA is French made. ;-)

But that said..if you were to look at my system you'd find Usher speakers and a few Chinese based amps along the way..

But, I think Im leaning to the AA Prima in the end. Any other thoughts welcome..Thanks

Just took delivery of a real nice 2001 Muse Model 9 Signature player. A $4K unit that can be found for under $1500. even with the Signature upgrade to the analog board.

I talked to a few owners of the 9 signature and also to some owners of other Muse products like the Model 2 and Model 296 Dac owners who speak of the Muse sound as unhyped,smooth and resolving and utterly musical.

After just 2 days of playing the 9 Signature, I am left amazed at how good this thing is! It is leaps and bounds ahead of the Jolida JD-100 that it replaces, in every way. Much in the same way that I found my Cary CAD-50MkII monoblocks make my old Manley Stingray sound like a toy by comparison

Many Thanks to all who have contributed to lend a suggestion. I highly recommend the Muse players to anyone who is looking to upgrade from the JD or Cary 308....Ken

www.museelectronics.com/9s.html

Hi Matti,

Well... there ya go! In reading the review in UltimateAudio Magazine's Winter 2001 issue..reviewer Jarry Kindela makes mention of his familiarity with the standard 9 and his high regards for its sound in CD/DVD,The Linn CD-20 at 16K more was better at soundstage and halographic imaiging, but the Muse 9 Sign. has the same ability to capture the recording venue in the same way and is as coherent as well ....Most of his review was for the redbook CD of the Signature model, noting the upgrades made by Muse to the Analog board.

The funny part is,I had just read this review and saw an Ad fo the Muse 9 Signature for sale only a few days later. Good timing for once!

I had also been concidering the cary 300/300 player. List is $4K but signifigant price drop on units that are now showing up used..my biggest concern was the fact that there are currently no less than "5" used players on Audiogon at the moment....That made me nervous about going with that model.I really like what I hear out of the Muse!