CD Player with digital input?

Cary CD 306/200

Ckoffend -
I am new at this so I am not as articulate as many.
What I noticed with the SA-10 was what I would describe as greater extension and more air in the highs. Cymbals seemed to trail off longer for instance. My best description would be to say that compared to dvd-player to dac1, the SA-10 was like someone had taken their foot off of that second pedal on a piano (the one that muffles everything) or that a guitar player had taken his pick hand off of the strings. It was quickly and unmistakably noticeable and likable. Not one of those things that one is pretty sure they hear after a long listen. I ran generic balanced interconnects from the dac1 and the esoteric into the MA6900, qued up the same song on two burned disks and flipped from one to the other. I am sure that my methods were not scientific, but it seemed clear enough.
By contrast, when I did the same thing with the Resolution Audio player, I could not tell the RA and the DAC1 apart. Not at all.

At the moment, I have a Cambridge 840c on order. What the heck. If it isn’t the best choice I can return it. I will also buy a used AYRE C7xe to try. It doesn’t have my digital input but it can also be had used for a lot less than the Esoteric or the Resolution Audio. And it looks like 4 or 5 of them sold on this site in the past week so I don’t feel like I would be sticking my neck out that far if I didn’t like the player.

I had contemplated going to visit the nearest Ayre dealer, but he is 75 mi away and I would have to bring my speakers and the Cambridge player to compare and at the end of the day I wouldn’t spend the money on a new one anyway so it all seemed a bit dishonest.

We will have to see. The Cambridge gets here next week. I figure I will give it another week to run in a bit and by then there should have been some more of the Ayre players listed for sale.

If the Esoteric turns out to be the best choice for CDs, I will most likely go find one. It just seems like a big decision to me and I want to hear a few others before I settle.

Studio68 - The cary needs a good looking over too. Thanks!

Jimmy, thanks very much for your reply, especially your comments on the Esoteric. The ayre players are very good from everything that I can tell and the minimul amount I have been able to auditon at a dealers (though not in a system very similar to mine). Ayre makes great products but I feel the hurt for not having a digital input. I have not had a chance to listen to the Cambridge 840C, many that have compared this to previous Cambridge CD players have reported that it is "much better". I have a Cambridge 640H (I think that is the model) that is their hard drive based system and I really like this, but only when I use the digital outputs (the analog is fine for background, but to really compare and get something close the digital to a better DAC or CD within inputs is very noticeable). I have been informed that the 840C is a big audible improvement of a CD played from this device (which has the 640C CD player and DACs built in). Best of luck and I am sure you can turn the Ayre quickly if you need to and can let it go. I would love to hear your comments on the 7Xe if you do bring one in.

CK - will do. Once the Cambridge has done some running, I will get either an ayre if one is around or a cary and see what I can hear.