The best CD Player for the money


I AM IN THE PROCESS OF BUYING A CD PLAYER AND I DONT KNOW WHICH WAY TO GO.WITH SO MANY TO CHOOSE FROM I WANT TO PURCHASE SOMETHING GOOD BUT I DONT WANT TO SPEND 10,000 EITHER.
jazze22
I was very interested in this post as I too was in the market for a new CD player. I have been using a Jolida 601 and oddly enough found it very competitive with everything I tried it against. I tried Pioneers new elite DVD, the whole Rotel Line, Linn, Ah! Tjoeb, Rega Planet, the Cary 301, 303, and 306, and other players. Every one I tried, was very different, it was shocking actually. I can see why the responses are so varied in this post. For me, there was a clear winner though, the Cary 303. Every player I found myself saying, "this apect is very nice, but it sounds a little of in this other area". But when I finally heard the Cary, it was, "Oh finally I have nothing to say, it is all there - or nothing is there!". Nothing was odd about it, all I heard was great music. All the tube players where kind of thick sounding, almost soupy. The others were digital sounding and kind of flat. Oddly enough the 303 has no tubes in it, unlike the earlier 301 which does. Other models in the runner up catagories I liked were the Rotel 991 as it had very nice imaging, and the Rega, which had a very nice sound but was a little thin. The Cary just kind of disappeared, I didn't think about it, just felt captivated by the music and still am as I listen to it now. This is why I listen to music in the first place so bought it. I got it from the guys at Upscale Audio who have a killer deal on them right now as they bought a bunch of them. The 306 was in my opinion a little better, but only a little, and they had the same general sound. By switching pre amps around, I was able to get all the things I liked in the 306, plus it was over twice as much, so I stuck with the 303. Hope this is helpful.
I have a Sony XA7ES. It was $3,000.00 new & you can find them used for around $1,100.00 (like I did). I really think it is excellent at the used price. It has a variable analog output, so you can run it directly into your power amp. I've been waiting for Sony to come out with an SACD player with the variable output, they still haven't. So I just purchased an Adcom GFP750 pre amp, & I'll probably buy a Sony 777ES SACD player. Be carefull if someone tries to sell you a player with balanced outputs. Only a few are truly balanced & none of the Sony's are. If your amp isn't fully balanced, you don't need a balanced CD player anyway. I'll probably keep my XA7ES to run directly into my ALEPH 3 power amp. Someday I'll get a Levinson Model 39 CD player to run directly into my Rowland Model 2 power amp. Both are truly balanced & the Levinson has a variable output.
Good Luck!
How about the Metronome (specifically the CD-1V) with tube output stage? It was designed by Dominique Giner of Jadis.
If you don't mind used,the Accuphase DP-75 is the last CD player you will probably own. The thing is so musical you will probably forget about analog, DVD-A, or SACD. Plus, it can also be used as a processor! Some owners are trading this model in for a DP-75V...thats the good news. The bad news is they're still tough to find and might set you back $4000- to $5000- for a nice one. You won't be disappoited!