CDP or DAC?

If you want to get close to analog I recommend an Audio Research CD9se. This is the best sounding CD player / DAC I have heard. The tubes allow for a wonderful midrange bloom and natural analog sound. I actually did a side by side comparison with a DAC costing $5K more and actually preferred the natural sound of the CD9se better.

ARC stopped manufacturing them recently because the company producing the transports stopped making them. But it should still be possible to find one, or used.

@jond …

I am sure Audio Research has a huge supply of transports for repair so their customers never become boat anchor owners… it is a reputable company. Also, I actually do not use the transport part, I use it as a DAC. I had a Berkeley Alpha 3 ($22K) in my system for comparison for a couple weeks. The difference in sound was absolutely minuscule in my system, but I preferred the ARC. I have compared CDs to streaming the same content, on my system and there is no difference. CDs as a media will go away and less and less companies will make them. So, buying the CD player for the sound of the DAC is really what you are doing unless it is a transport only. There is no fundamental difference in the media like there is in analog. The CD just has digital files on them. Unless you just like futzing with physical media there is no fundamental benefit.

@aolmrd1241…

Good point… perhaps that is not as well known as I thought. I assumed at this point most high end companies have positioned their CD players to be DAC / CD players. When I bought a Sim Moon 650D about ten years ago it was advertised as a DAC with a transport. As I have pointed out elsewhere, I use my ARC CD9se as a DAC and seldom use the transport. I haven’t done a lot of research on other CD players. But I would think anyone in the market for a CD player are auditioning it as a DAC as well. A CD player is a one box mechanical transport, dedicated streamer and DAC.