Comparing these CD players with my gear...

I have two Emotiva cd players, ERC 2 and ERC 3 solid build and great sounding, especially for the price

I recall reading that oppo will have a more dedicated audio model as well?

jsbach1685-

the Naim will sound good w/ your Creek amp. Keep me posted as you massage this spinner into your system. Give the player 200 hrs. to settle prior to any critical listening. 

jsbach1685, when you look at what makes the high end CD players distinct from the cheaper ones, it usually boils down to the vibration control, power supply, output stage and the DAC.

That is why there is such a large market in modifying CD players. Owners of lesser quality machines can buy a CDP for, say, $700, then spend $1,500 - $2,000 on getting it modded. For less than $3,000 they have a player that can compete against +$5,000 machines.

Instead of going the modding route, you can easily bypass the built-in DAC with a higher quality one. There are several stellar DACs to chose from in the $500 - $1,000 range (used). Paired with DAC, your CDP merely functions as a simple transport.

And adding dampening to your unit is pretty simple. I have used Plumber’s putty in the past as it never dries out. One container ($6.95) can easily cover the inside of any CDP.

Last year I upgraded from my trusty Sony S9000ES SACD/CD (one of Modwright’s favourites to tweak) player to an Esoteric DV-50S. I bypassed the Sony’s DAC when listening to CDs by routing the signal through a Teac UD-501 DAC. I was surprised how close this combination was to CDs on the Esoteric (the Esoteric was clearly ahead, but not by as much as I had expected). SACD performance wasn’t even close, however.

But the biggest consideration for choosing any component is synergy. Simply adding a $10,000 CDP into your system is no guarantee that you will be able to hear it perform to its ability.

YMMV.

Thanks! for sharing- nordicnorm

I enjoy Esoteric for SACD playback only. I was not impressed w/ the DV-60 rbcd playback.  I have always wanted to audition the DV-50S.

It still has quite a following.