Okay......best single box reference CD player

What Esoteric VRDS transport is it using?

Bar,

i don't know the answer to your question. it is very quiet and always reads the disc quickly and the first time.

i much prefer it to the Philips drive that was in my EMM Labs CDSD.

I have not compared it with players mentioned in your setup. I can tell you what I do know. I do know it is better than Simaudio Eclipse, and better dynamics than Esoteric ($6000 unit DV50) and Marantz SA-11s1. Andromeda has fantastic dynamic contrast, great detail and transparency, and a big sound, i.e. turn volume up and it will play very load with no distortion. It is $13.5K retail in USA due to poor dollar levels at this time. Andromeda also has a large offboard power supply.

Sorry my comparison is not more apples and apples, with higher price players. I did listen to X03SE in a store system, had not as much dynamic contrast as Andromeda, but sounded detailed.

I will go out on a limb and state that Andromeda CD player has one of the best dynamic range and contrast of any. It seems dead neutral as far as balance (warm v clinical). It has great detail but I have not compared it with the over $10k players, so I cannot state that it is best. Same with transparency, its great but no megabuck CD comparisons made. Thanks.

Bill

Audio Research CD-7 without question.

My Wadia 581se sounds pretty amazing...deep, warm and round, with lots of articulation at the top and a full, defined bass at the bottom. IMHO I believe that when you start spending 10,000 and up for a single boxed player that many of the percieved audio differences between these players are many times related to room acoustics, cables and power delivery choices.