Pioneer Elite DV97Avi; Very nice as a cd player and since most people are going Blue Ray, you can find this for about $200. haven't heard many under $1500 that can beat it now. Also, the Pioneer Elite DV09 is built like a tank and is also very nice and you can get it for $200 also. these are wonder units and were the top of the line. The audio sections are simple impressive. For about $800 you can get the Pioneer Elite BD-09 which you really can't beat for under $2500 even now. this thing has four dacs and is one of the best out there. I use is solely as a cd transport/player. I have the digital output plugged into my Audio Research DAC8 and the audio output directly into my Audio Research REF 3 pre-amp and I can't really hear a difference. It is pretty darn close to the quality of the DAC 8. people I know that sold it did so because it loads quite slowly compared to other Blue Ray players. I couldn't care less about that. I beats every player I compared it against as a cd/blue ray player and as a transport, you would be hard pressed to find a better transport. But, since you were asking about players on the cheap. For the money, (less than $1000) you really can't beat the DV79avi. Pioneer elite seriously overbuilt these units.
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