I agree with UncleJeff, the audio aero capitole II may not be the king of digital any more but for under $10k I think its hard to beat. And if you like tubey, dark soundstage and bloom the choice is pretty simple! The fellow who bought mine absolutely loves it, just as I did for months before. This player you can just listen to for hours and hours and never get tired of it. Part of me really misses that little thing.
All of that being said if you can swing a little bit more the Emm labs(aka Meitner) digital is better, though it goes for about $15k for the two channel set up- and your going to pay retail or darn close to it. To my ears it is the best digital source I have ever heard. It also plays SACD's incredibly well, but it seemed as though your focus was on redbook so that in mind the Emm labs is still king. And you get SACD to play with as well.
All of that being said if you can swing a little bit more the Emm labs(aka Meitner) digital is better, though it goes for about $15k for the two channel set up- and your going to pay retail or darn close to it. To my ears it is the best digital source I have ever heard. It also plays SACD's incredibly well, but it seemed as though your focus was on redbook so that in mind the Emm labs is still king. And you get SACD to play with as well.