D, I've heard most of the players mentioned and short of putting each in your system and you listening, you will proably never be able to pick the best for you. However, these are all on the right track. One thing to add, which you didn't make a reference, is good interconnect/speaker cables. I went from mid-price Monster to Audiotruth(used) and was amazed at the difference. Kimber also has some inexpensive interconnect/speaker cable. You really need something good to bring out the best of your GFA555, PS Pre and future CD. Good luck......LR
Inexpensive Audiophile Set-up?
Is this an oxymoron? Am I a moron ( just thought that I'd cut that one off at the pass). Here's the deal: I'd like something that sound pretty good, but I don't see myself spending more than $300 per piece in the near future. Maybe a bit more for speakers if they look really nice. I anticipate buying used stuff unless there's a compelling reason not to. So far I've purchased Adcom GFA-555 amp ($300) and PS Audio 4.6 pre-amp ($200). I think that my next purchase will be a cd player. I listen to mostly reggae,jam band recodings on cdr and radio. My current speakers are Boston Acoustics and Infinity bookshelves. One cd player within my budget is a Marantz 6000 OSE on Ebay. Thanks for your time.