What's the "worst" cdp for the money?

Hey Liz, just have the Pizza guy on speed dial!

IMHO law of diminishing returns kick in much quicker when it comes to cd players, the difference between a $500 cd player and a $5000 cd player is not very big, unlike speakers or turntables. I personally don't see any merit in purchasing a cd player costing more than $2000.

I have carefully heard the Pioneer PD-91, Marantz CD94, Sony CDP-X55ES, Denon DCD-S10 and some others costing between $1000-2000 and I think they sounded as goodif not better than the several $,$$$ Wadia.

By the way, this is one of the so many good threads on A'Gon. Very beneficial to some, at least I found it so.

" the difference between a $500 cd player and a $5000 cd player is not very big"

you haven't listened to the right players yet. i've never been a big fan of wadia, krell, shanling or many other high dollar players. however, imho it's a different ballgame all together when you're talking about mods or all-out redesigns. i've got about five grand into my current player and after listening to it next to set ups like the meitnerand the zanden, i'm very pleased with my investment.

I dunno about these $20,000 units, that seems crazy, maybe $5000 tops, after that owners just talk themselves into loving them, and nothing you can say will get them to admit it could have been done for alot less...and there is always the audiophile safe word "synergy" wich is the end to any debate, an overused word IMHO

"there is always the audiophile safe word "synergy" wich is the end to any debate, an overused word IMHO"

i disagree with that. in fact, the speakers i'm listening to right now (dynaudio 1.3 mkIIs wired with silver in teflon) didn't impress me at all in a friends system, but i love them in mine. i can say the same thing about a lot of equipment as well. i think synergy and proper impedance matching is very important.