Best analog sounding cd player under 5K

David12, so sorry to hear of your troubles with the modded Opus 21. Knock on wood, I never had a single issue or hick-up with mine. I kept it a good while too and eventually contacted Steve before putting it up for sale to see if he had any lookers. He did and bought it back from me and sold it on.

Having owned the Esoteric and the Opus 21 at the same time, you are correct about the "flavor" of these two machines. While I would not call the esoteric cold, I think of it as pretty neutral, but very detailed. I don't consider the Opus warm or analogue, but certainly warmer than the Esoteric.

The differences as you point are, are not subtle. It doesn't take a fine tuned ear to hear the differences in the sound of the two companies/products.

Your comments are well presented.

Finally, on David's comment on the $5K level. All of the units I referenced in my prior posting were purchased by me for under $5K, some well under $5K. Of course, I generally purchase used and assume that is what the poster means, he has up to $5K to spend (vs. units that list for $5K new). But that is always a question as to how posters include pricing but not necessarily budget.

Ckoffend, you seem to know a lot about cd players, have you hear the Electrocompaniet emc up or the Ayon players or the Perfectwave dac? I am looking for a player with a lot of detail but also warm, musical, flowing. That makes a hard decision as I can't listen to many of them where I live. I also want to be able to hook it up to my computer. Thanks, Sandra

Where is it written that the AA units are poorly made and breakdown a lot? I've read about problems here on A'gon but certainly no more than other players. And many of the problems have been about the transport, which can hardly be attributable to AA. Then of course there is the problem about no current representation in the states and the fact that AA does not return emails. Legitimate problems, but I still think the rap AA has taken is a bit overblown. I've owned 2 AA players over the last 7-8 years (I still own my Capitol) and never had an ounce of trouble with either one. Bottom line is they are wonderful players IMHO, very musical, have as much detail as I need, and are about as close to analog as you will get with digital. And with the bad rap they have taken, very attractively priced these days. I have no affiliation with AA, I’m just a happy AA owner.

SMW - I haven't listened to the Ayon players and have only read about the PS audio perfect wave DAC. I have auditioned the Electro EMC and this is a warmer sounding player (vs. traditional digital sound). I had been tempted by this player and would agree that for those looking for the addition of some "warmth" that this would be a good audition/consideration. I have listened to this at about the same time I listened to a Lector and to be honest, due to time and neither in my system, I have a difficult time differentiating which was which. I think both are worth a listen and I also think both can be had at pretty decent prices used. This opens the possibility to buy and re-sell for little to no loss if done carefully.

My recollection about these players was that they were warmer, slightly less detailed. Bass reproduction gave the impression of being a bit looser, but not flabby. Nice midrange and female vocal reproduction with what seemed like somewhat rolled of highs (which I think is common for "warm" leaning players).

Now it should be noted that I am not a fan of warm sounding players over the long term as I am of the opinion that if I want to warm things up, I'd rather do it later in the chain. Since I generally prefer detailed and neutral versus forgiving and warm, I usually find that a copper or certain type of IC or SC is a better means for me.

I also have a tough time categorizing something as sounding "analog", which in my mind has its own pros and cons (I associate analog with records and the weakness of that medium - ie. noise/distortion/etc).

I am a little bit skeptical of PS Audio, I get the sense that they are a little bit gimmicky. I own their power generation and "filtering" components but have not honestly listened to any of their other stuff to offer any impression at all. My gimicky comment is maybe undeserved. It also concerns me that their dealers seem to be selling stuff one year after its introduced for 50% off, meaning to me that its used value is only about 25% of new list price!

I would read carefully the reviews on the Ayon stuff herein and I would be real interested to contact people that made ownership comments of some time prior and then to contact them outside of the posting to see if they still own this stuff or whether posts were made out of pride vs. reality. I think the "main" dealer for this stuff is a good marketer - take that for what it's worth.

On a final note, there are a couple of internet professional "review" sites, which I won't bother to name. I find their reviews even more questionable than the paper rags. Having actually purchased an item directly from the review process of one of these reviewers. The item arrived to me, after receiving a glowing review. The item didn't function properly and the mfg. said it was defective and the defect could not have had anything to do with shipping damages. Yet this defective product, which sounded awful to me in 5 minutes got a glowing review from the internet-only professional reviewer!