I bought a Sony C333ES SACD player for just over $500. Since they have been discontinued you should be able to find one for the same price or less. In the past two years I have owned a Sony DVD Player/MSB Link DAC II comb($550), Roksan Caspian CD Player ($1600), Aiwa Changer/MSB Link DAC III w/upsampling ($650), and the Sony C333ES SACD player ($1200). In my system the SACD player has been the most natural sounding. Even my wife commented that vocals sounded warmer. Together with a new tubed preamp my front-end has never sounded more musical. As always YMMV and try before you buy (or at least buy wisely and resell for s small loss).
"Warm" CD player...on a budget.
I can't take it anymore. My CDs sound way too harsh with my Pioneer DV-343 DVD player serving as a transport and my Denon 5800 serving as the DAC. I need something that sounds warm and smooth, but I don't think I can afford to spend more than $500. I've been eyeing the Cambridge Audio D300SE and D500SE models, but won't really have an opportunity to listen to them prior to purchase due to the lack of a local dealer. I've also heard that an Ah! Toejb player can really sing, but I'm nervous about getting anything that has tubes that might or might not need to be replaced in the future.
Who wants to point me in the path of CD righteousness, keeping the budget in mind?
Who wants to point me in the path of CD righteousness, keeping the budget in mind?