Best Sounding CD / SACD player under 15K

Consider the usual suspects:

- Playback Designs MPS-5
- DCS Puccini
- EMM Labs CDSA

Ayre C5. Best I heard at any price, Added an ARC DAC for when we want a more analog like presentation.

Ayre does not belong with the above-mentioned players. Spent few hours with C5-Xe MP, EMM stack and Orpheus Labs OneSE, and it took all of 10min to decide Ayre should not be part of the comparison.

Add Esoteric K-03 and Klimax DS/1 to the list (although neither fits your exact requirement: no multi-format CDP)

How about a ModWright Sony and keep the $10K+ for a rainy day...

Are there CD Players that retail for $15,000 ?? Good Lord. Even the gurus at Stereophile could not find anything negative to say about the Marantz SA8001, and it sold for $900. They also tested the Marantz CD 5004 and praised it, $349, of course with the obligatory caveats, i.e. the mid range, or the bass, or the treble, was not as good as their $270,000 dollar 'reference' player. Save your money, get the cheapest SACD capable player. They all fail sooner or later. No one talks about that.