Comparing these CD players with my gear...

If that's how you judge a CD player, and its working for you, fine. 

The OP said he's has a cd fetish, so Multibit is the way to get the best out of that fetish.   

Not just me, but many are now starting to understand that to get RedBook, PCM, CD, to sound right it has to be converted via a Multibit dac not Delta Sigma based

Even music companies are starting to understand this also.
   Quote from MoJo Music:
" When a PCM (CD) file is played on a Delta Sigma or Bit Stream converter, the DAC chip has to convert the PCM to DSD in real time. This is one of the major reasons people claim DSD sounds better than PCM, when in fact, it is just that the chip in most modern single-bit DACs do a poor job of decoding PCM."

That's why you are now seeing a big resurgence back to Multibit by many audiophile dac, cdp manufacturers, even if now they have to make discrete versions of ladder Multibit dac convertors, as it's the way too expensive to manufacture in chip form now, compared to very cheap manufacturing process of Delta Sigma .

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-line-level/227677-using-ad844-i-v-99.html#post4972314

Cheers George

I’m not saying your opinion isn’t valid, but the reality is someone could listen to one of the players you like and hate it.

I only pick the one/s out of the OP’s list/s in his first post as he said he has a CD fetish, this is not to say I would own them.
It’s just the one I would pick out of that list for doing CD/PCM/Redbook conversion bit perfect, instead of a facsimile of it with a Delta Sigma based dac/cdp.

Cheers George

Its an extremely unique piece because the transport is made by Linn in house.

See that where your wrong, just because they've glitzed it up and called it a poopoo engine while under those glitzy covers is a standard Philips unit. And to further this we a/b it at an audio society meeting of 30 members and used it's transport only into the dac section of my Cary 303/200 (that has my tripple stack AD844 I/V stage), and no one could tell the difference between the Linn transport and the Cary's own Matsushita transport.
 
To me the biggest differences between dac and cdp players comes down to which type of conversion process has been used, and the type of filtering used.

Cheers George

Just because the players use the same types of parts doesn’t mean the analog sections will all sound the same. Different brands, different design, build quality, etc... It all makes a difference.

To a small point, if you’ve work on and modded as many as I have they are very similar, only when you get into the esoteric stuff (non data sheet) like what I and others do with feedback free inplementation stacked AD844/discrete/transformer based I/V stages can you hear a real difference, as for the output buffers again very similar opamps used.

To give an example, even the mighty $20k Linn CD12 that I have here at the moment, just has PCM1704 data sheet text book opa627 as the I/V stage and again a opa627 as the output buffer. Just classic dac text book stuff.

Cheers george

Naim CD3.5
-or-
Theta Miles

*Cast your Vote!*

For me neither as these are both "Delta Sigma" (bitsteam) based converters.

I love the sound of "Multibit" converters when converting CD (RedBook) 16/44 or 24/96. They have better jump factor, which gives more involvement to CD, and are bit perfect. Delta Sigma converts Redbook as a facsimile of the real thing.

Quote from MoJo Music:
" When a PCM (CD) file is played on a Delta Sigma or Bit Stream converter, the DAC chip has to convert the PCM to DSD in real time. This is one of the major reasons people claim DSD sounds better than PCM, when in fact, it is just that the chip in most modern single-bit DACs do a poor job of decoding PCM." 

Cheers George

mgreen27

"Why not look at the analog section of the dac as well? I think you’ll find all the players mentioned use dac data textbook I/V stage and output stages, which are just opamps."

I’ve owned 3 of the players on the OP’s list and I have a fair amount of time with 2 others. They all sound different. Audio is hands on. If you want good sound you have to be proactive. That means listening to as much gear as you can. If you make buying decisions based on spec sheets, that’s what your system will sound like. A spec sheet.

This is why most of the one mentioned have text book I/V and analogue stages, nothing special.

But if you really want to be hands on and have the ability, you can do a far better feedback free I/V stage and better output buffer than these text book ones that OP is choosing between.
Here is a link I started over at DiyAudio on a better I/V stage for dacs and cdp's which gives a far better sound than the text book stuff.

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-line-level/227677-using-ad844-i-v.html

Cheers George

jsbach1685 OPThose all look nice, but I guess I should’ve given my budget... max is $500.

What I’m trying to get across is the Gungnir Yggrasill and the California Audio Labs Icon. Are all Multibit and designed by Mike Moffatt

You can’t go passed Multibit for CD (redbook) replay, as you said you have a cd fetish. So go the Cal Icon

Cheers George

Two totally different dac converters in these Naim players

Naim 3 has a dac that uses the classic very sought after TDA1541-S1 Crown Multibit converter, a great redbook/cd converter.

Naim 3.5 uses a TDA1305 1 bit (bit stream) converter chip, which for redbook/cd replay is inferior to the Naim 3’s TDA1541-S1 Crown

Cheers George

Theta Miles

The Theta was designed by Mike Moffat who now owns Schiit Audio along with Jason Stodard the Forumula One entrepreneur. You should look look also at these Schiit dacs. As  Moffat is a lover of Multibit conversion and what it does for CD (redbook) replay.

  Gungnir with Multibit  option
http://schiit.com/products/gungnir

Yggrasill Multibit
http://schiit.com/products/yggdrasil .

Cheers George

Why not look at the analog section of the dac as well?

I think you’ll find all the players mentioned use dac data textbook I/V stage and output stages, which are just opamps.
Yes power supplies are, important and they all have very capable multi well regulated power supplies, the Cal has a beefier one than the rest, having what they call the Power Boss.


Cheers George

NAIM AUDIO CD3.5  = TDA1305  CDM12.5 / VAM1205

CAMBRIDGE AUDIO azur840c  =   AD1955A  Sanyo SF-P101N

MYRYAD MCD600 = CS4396-KS  KSS-213C

California Audio Labs Icon mk II HDCD = 2 x PCM1702 – PMD100

Panasonic RAE0113Z

MARANTZ CD6005 = CS4398  Sanyo SF-P101N

ROTEL RCD-1072 = PCM1732  KSS-213C / KSS-213CL

Looking at the dac converter chips, and transports/lasers, for Redbook cd replay.

 I'd go for the CAL Icon, it's got a very good Burr Brown PCM1702 Multibit chip, and the HDCD PMD100 filter chip.

Cheers George