I haven't heard any of the players you list long enough to comment on them, but I have been listening to upconverted CD for years through the dCS Purcell and Elgar, and have heard other comparable upconversion systemsas well (e.g., the Accuphase). I have never heard any CD player without upconversion that can come close, although I believe that when I heard the Linn there was something wrong in the system, because LP didn't sound very good there either. I heard an Audio Aero Capitole player recently, and it also sounded fabulous.
Upsampling the way to go? ?
As if we didn't have enough to decide with the format wars, the latest issue of Stereophile implies upsampling is the magic to make cds as good as sacd. ARC however, disagrees. Has anyone actually listened to the ARC CD3 vs the MF NU Vista 3D,Cary, EMC 1,or other comparably priced players with upsampling?