What Sonically is the Difference between a $1,500 CD Player and a $10K-$25K One?

"All CD players throughout history have been plagued by fatal problems. While it may be true that some advances have been made in CD playback nobody has solved the problems of scattered laser light, seismic vibration, and the various vibrations produced by both the CD player and the CD itself. If you don’t mind the missing information, the crappy bass performance and the compressed sound, more power to you. Yes, I know what you’re thinking, “What missing information, crappy bass performance and compressed sound? My system sounds fabulous!” 🤗"

Sure geoffkait, they all sound like garbage except yours. 

Exactly! You catch on quick! 

I am enjoying many of the posts here from the usual contributors. 

One thing, I would like to clarify is that while there may be differences between the $1500 and $15K CD players (or transports and DACs...which IMO would be the better way to go) the differences, if any depend on the rest of YOUR setup and YOUR room, which will be different than the showroom and anyone else’s setup and room. 

For instance, bring in that $15K transport and DAC and hook them up with stock cables and cables and connect them to a noisy electrical system and cheap power strips and I would be willing to bet that you won’t hear as big a difference as if you used good cables and had proper power handling and noise/EMI mitigation. 

So it is not just about the CD player or transport and DAC. They don’t operate in a vacuum. Attention should be paid to getting the rest of the system and your power management to an equally good level.

Many of us here know this. But I don’t think it has been mentioned here yet and so it’s not as simple as a for instance comparing a top end CD player vs a good transport and top end DAC. The rest of the system and power handling matter perhaps just as much or maybe even more. 

Good point! I made the same point five days ago. I call it the Hierarchy of Sound.

All CD players regardless of price are subject to the deleterious effects of vibration and background stray laser light. Therefore, one would be better off buying an inexpensive player and fixing those problems than simply investing beaucoup bucks on a player. There are obviously many other related issues such as interconnects, power cord, fuse, external DAC, etc.

No matter how much you have in the end you would have had even more if you had started off with more in the beginning. - old audiophile axiom

A rich audiophile has about as much chance of entering Audio Nirvana as a camel 🐪 has of passing through the eye 👁 of a needle. - old audiophile axiom

"...and background stray laser light."

As long as it stays in the background, problem does not exist.

When going astray, one inevitably goes away. Therefore, straying laser light would be beneficial.

🐪💗💗💗

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvkoloNYZE4