Still need a CD player.

[McIntosh]

Well I still need a CD player to round out the new system.

I know which one the wife wants,but am looking for opinions on the best sounding units.

What are your favorites?

[Gary]

Have you heard McIntosh?

[AudiophilePhil]

Well I still need a CD player to round out the new system.

I know which one the wife wants,but am looking for opinions on the best sounding units.

What are your favorites?

What's your price range? How much do you want to spend for a CD player?

[AudiophilePhil]

Since I'm busy right now because of July 4th family gathering, here are my favourite CD players. In other words, the the top 3 CD players that I am longing to have:

1) Rega Saturn $2,200.00
2) Copland CDA-823 $2,800
3) Audio Research CD3 MkII >$5,000.00

[TONEPUB]

Haven't heard the Copeland, but the Rega and the ARC are both quite good.

The other two I've heard that are quite good for the money are the Meridian G08 (4000) and the Ayre 7-xe. For 3000, the Ayre is a very nice combination of neutrality, musicality and dynamics.

Honestly as much as I like all the others, I think the Ayre is the one to beat for the money... If you have an Ayre dealer near you, see if you can't get one home to listen to, it's quite good!

Seriously though, you won't go wrong with either of the other choices, but the Rega is very warm and analog sounding, so again, it might be too much warmth for your system. Too bad you live in Seattle and not down the street, I could let you borrow all of these players for the night, then it would be super easy for you to make a decision!

[McIntosh]

I really don't have a budget, but was thinking around 3K.

Has anyone heard the new Mac server? That would be convenient if the sound quality was there.

Albums outnumber CD's about 10 to 1, but would be nice to have a good player for those things not available on vinyl.

[TONEPUB]

I have the MS300 in for review and the folks at McIntosh told me that the MS750 is identical. As a CD player and server it sounds very good, but I believe it's closer to the 5-6k price range...

It would match all of your gear!

If you get a Mac music server, I'd highly suggest getting one of those
cool little 7" tv's if you aren't going to patch it into your TV so you can
read what's on it!

Of course my fav choice for music server is the Sooloos! It's by far the
easiest and most convenient to use, but a little spendy in the 10-12k range...

[AudiophilePhil]

I really don't have a budget, but was thinking around 3K.

Has anyone heard the new Mac server? That would be convenient if the sound quality was there.

Albums outnumber CD's about 10 to 1, but would be nice to have a good player for those things not available on vinyl.


For a $3k budget, I'll go for Rega Saturn $2.1k+ and then keep the rest of your money.

[Upstateaudio]

Have you listened to the Arcam FMJCD36? It is ~2K through this summer.

[LeeS]

I would also recommend the Ayre unit which I think is around $3K.

The Rega Saturn is also quite good based on a recent listening session.

If you like jazz or classical, I would look closely at the Sony ES SACD players as well.

Another option might be to get a good DVD player with digital out and buy a Benchmark DAC1 to listen back to redbook. That way you have twice the functionality.

[bigmacc]

Just my opinion.

Since your budget is $3000 l imagine you will take your time to make a decision. Your lp's outnumber the cd's by 10 to 1 indicates to me you are also extremely intelligent. This last statement is based on my personal preference for vinyl. :righton:

In the meantime what about playing with one of those Tosiba units that people rave about the under $100 ones. You will have a unit to play your cd's while you make the final choice and it can serve as the cd source for a second or third system in the future.

When playing cd's does it really matter what the source is? :eek: Just josin guys.;)

[OldCoder]

I have an ARCAM CD33, which the CD36 replaced, and I just love it. In A/B comparison I have participated in, it has bested players priced up to $8K.

I'd recommend that you listen to any player more than $500 before you purchase, as I have found large differences between the sound of cd players.

And I'd certainly try to listen to the ARCAM line if they have a model at the same price point as what you become interested in, their gear is underrated IMHO.