The best CD Player for the money

Sony SCD-XA5400ES. NO CONTEST! I have had many of the top players, some costing WAY more than the Sony XA5400ES. Resolution, definition, musicality, the best so far for me.

I like my Cary CDP-1 and am thinking of investing in the new 303T, but not until it gets reviewed and I get a chance to listen to one.

For my money the best price/ performance I've had is the Cambridge Audio 840c, about $1k used. But there are a lot of good players out now.

Dave_b what do you like about the Sony player? I'm considering it and the Rega Apollo. I'll run it through a Denon 4310CI and Hales Design C-5 speakers.

FWIW, I've never been a fan of Sony equipment. I think their sound reproduction is rather flat and lifeless. I read the Stereophile review on this model and they thought it was great. Who knows!

without a doubt given 3 solid weeks of breakin 24-7
The Sony 5400-Es sacd player is easilly the best build quality for sure ,,also it has a warm but detailed sound
that is up there with the $4000 + crowd Stereophile has it listed as A+ catagory not bad for under $1100 delivered
also it sounds better than their $5k player before the 777es.what they did was use hugh quality parts and dual R core transformers Burr Brown 1796 chipsets and opamps
Panasonic and Elna capacitors ,and 23 lbs you have a great player the reason it is far less money then before is that Sony built a state of the art factory in Malyasia ,the workers get 3x less than a worker in Japan ,the same tight
standards and that is how this new classic was born,BUT
it gets better Modwright ,and Terra firma lite Bit clocks are doing excellent upgrades specifically for the Sony5400
for they said it is solid all the way around !