Which tube cd player do you like

You list no budget, so I'll nominate the SS Playback Designs MPS-5. The DAC and transport are probably the components that separate the men from the boys in CDPs. Why would you focus on a tube in the power supply?

Dave

Listen for yourself and don't worry about tubes or no tubes. The DAC is where it's at and the state of the art DACs are moving forward very fast. You can now buy with confidence that no upgrade will be needed. IMHO, the new technology is the best when it comes to DACs.

Dave

Mrjstark, you're right, that was one of my weaker posts. I probably meant to say that DAC and clock development has come so far that you can buy now and stay very happy for many years because further development will yield increasingly small returns in sound quality.

Also, the development has come so far that the nasty glare and congestion of digititus is gone, at least in the best units. That nastyness compelled music lovers to constantly seek more musical players or drove them to their TTs or SACDs and DVD-As (my case). Now that I'm as happy with my digital as my analog, I think that I'll be less compelled to seek. Removing the digital nastyness is huge for me.

BTW, this Wednesday I had to briefly audition a couple of "ordinary" $3000 to $5000 CDPs before I compared my Playback Designs MPS-5 to an Emm CDSA-SE (see my PD review if you're interested in details). After months of listening to my PD, I could only take a few minutes on those lesser machines. Both had that glare (one actually had a tube also) that can make digital so unpleasant.

Dave