Law of Diminishing Returns - CD/SACD Players


I've been surfing through Audiogon reading many of the posts regarding the sonic qualities of some of the top tier cd/sacd players. Some brands/models that seem to be mentioned often are EMM Labs, dCS, Meridian, Esoteric, Audio Aero, etc. These players, however, are in the tens of thousands of dollars. I would love to own one of these machines some day, however, finances do not currently permit.

For those of you that have evolved to owning a top tier player like those listed above, what players can you recommend that would give 95 percent of the performance of a top tier player, without having to pay the price of a top tier machine? What does one have to pay to get that 95 percent performance? Does a Rotel 1072 give us 95 percent of the sound? Can a $1000 player like the Rega Apollo compete? Or does one have to move up a more costly player like the Resolution Audio Opus 21 or Ayre Cx7e to obtain the 95 percent? ...or perhaps one has to move to the $5000 - $6000 category of player like the Cary 306, Ayre C5xe, or Bluenote Stibbert?

Unfortunately, I have not heard any of the top tier digital players. I would love to hear from those who have had the opportunity to own or audition the very best. We all know that extracting the last 5 percent of sonic nirvana is extremely costly! What is the best "bang for your buck" to obtain 95 percent of the sound of a first class player?

calgarian
calgarian5355
The "cheap" ticket to the top tier is with decks like Sony SCD-1/777ES, top Marantz, top Denon, etc., modded by credible builders like APL, Audiomod, ModWright, Reference Audio Mods & VSEI. $1500-$4000 plus the cost of the mule player does it.

The question is, what are the qualities that distinguish the top 5% of players, are these qualities important to you, and are your downstream components at a similar level of refinement? Cheaper players have improved greatly, but don't have the last word in palpable realism, top-to-bottom extension, dynamics, color, contrast, weight & body. I know I'm there with my mostly RAM-modified battery powered SCD-1.
Great question. Hope you get some answers from people in the know. I am in the same spot you are, wanting to upgrade from Unison Research, but to what?
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