trying to decide between Cary 303/300 and BAT CD

I owned a VKD5se for years...nice organic sound...I switched last year to a Consonance Droplet....cost half as much and I liked the bass and soundstaging better, no loss of detail....
Larry

Having heard the BAT several years ago, I have a hard time believing that the Cary won't whoop it's ass. The BAT is definitely getting long in the tooth, while the Cary is a recent design taking advantage of more recent lessons in digital technology.

IMHO, the BAT was just OK, and was easily bettered by a Wadia 860x, which was easily bettered by my VSE modded Sony.

One of the nice things about the Cary 303/300 is its ability to be "tuned" to your listening preferences in different ways. You have the obvious choice between SS and tube output as well as multiple upsampling choices - all on the fly, which is very nice. In addition, the tube options for this player are both plentiful and affordable. And finally, you can choose to run the Cary direct to the amps or through a pre, which provides more options.

I have found that in my current system, I prefer the sound direct to the amp, tube output and lower or no upsampling. For some music though, I prefer the SS output and upsampling.

I chose the Cary 303/300 before I had a chance to audition the BAT VK-D5 and there was some regret as I heard how euphonic, warm, and sweet the BAT was, even though the Cary seems more resolving. I enjoy the older, lush, more Romantic sound of old hi-fi, and the BAT certainly has that. Plus, it demonstrated fine control and extension in the trebles with the massed, choral voices of Renaissance polyphonic music--not an easy thing to do by any means. The Cary, on the other hand, is switchable in sound via its many DACs and SS v. tube outputs. As resolving and versatile as the Cary 303/300 is, however, it's never as warm and lush nor does it exhibit the fine treble extension and separation in massed, high-register voices like the BAT. I may switch to it.

the bat vk d5 was upgraded a while ago. i own one.

i also owned the cary player.

notice, i said owned the cary. i sold the cary because it did not respons to changes in tubes and did not sound like there was a tube in it.

the bat player has the same problem. it sounds like solid state.

in contrast, my audionote cd2 sounds like there is a tube in it. it has a "tube" sound. the other players have a solid state sound.

i made a mistake buying the bat because i did not audition it before buying it.