Max Pain
You Have an Excellent CD player/transport now. The 508.24 is already reference quality and was given Stereophile Class "A" for years.
What you are looking for is greater resolution.
Have you maximised your efforts at reducing your noise floor? That is the key. Places to look include: AC power, grounding, cableing and the resolving power of your current equipment and making sure you are getting 100% of the potential out of your current system. (and it is a system). Everything matters from the AC outlet through to your speakers and room interaction and seating position and material.
Try listening to your system through a pair of modest headphones. If you can hear what you are missing with the headphones on, you will know that your system is capable of resolving the signal it is receiving.(bass, m range, treble, PRaT all of the audio lingo....Listen)!
When you listen through the headphones you remove all room interactions, EQ problems, balance, speaker placement seating position etc.
What you have now is what you got. If it sounds utterly fantastic and you start hearing micro and macro details you never heard before, holographic soundstage, 3D the band is there in the room... whatever, you will know it is your set-up and not the equipment. Make changes one at a time get a pad and pen and take notes, use tape etc.
You and many others who read this and are in the mood to upgrade may find out that they already own the best equipment. (p.s. there is no Best component in any category). You just need to do the hard part.
Buying equipment is easy, and if you have good cash flow you could be buying and selling a new sysytem every other week. That is not the goal or is it? Sometimes I wonder.
It seems like some people are constantly buying and selling, there names appear evry few weeks. Some people have 300 to 500 deals. They also complain about the Merry-Go-Round. Go Figure!
These are the people that keep audiogon up and running. They will never get off of the treadmill. IMO, if someone has alraedy bought and sold 300 pieces of gear, it is likely that they have already bought the best components time and time again and yet they are still looking. Also IMO, that is why audio magazines and reviewers stay in business. Every week/month/quarter there is a new top "10" in whatever category you like. What they don't tell you but you should know intuitively just by reading the reviews is "EVERYTHING SOUNDS GREAT, WILL WORK WELL IN MOST IF NOT ALL SYSTEMS, SHOULD BE PURCHASED BY THE READER IF LOOKING AND IS HIGHLY RECCOMMENDED BY THE REVIEWER."
In short, what this means to me is that, "Almost without fail, any piece of equipment you buy is going to sound fantastic, perform as good or better than its peers and will mate with gear you already own with no problem and will be enjoyable". (Realize that you still need to pay attention to what you have so that you don't go and buy a 85db 2ohm speaker to mate with a 10watt tube amp with a weak transformer or impedence mismatches etc).
In closing, you have great components already, I am surprised with the quality of your gear you have a deficiency. I am betting that your set-up and room are keeping you from experiencing their best.
You Have an Excellent CD player/transport now. The 508.24 is already reference quality and was given Stereophile Class "A" for years.
What you are looking for is greater resolution.
Have you maximised your efforts at reducing your noise floor? That is the key. Places to look include: AC power, grounding, cableing and the resolving power of your current equipment and making sure you are getting 100% of the potential out of your current system. (and it is a system). Everything matters from the AC outlet through to your speakers and room interaction and seating position and material.
Try listening to your system through a pair of modest headphones. If you can hear what you are missing with the headphones on, you will know that your system is capable of resolving the signal it is receiving.(bass, m range, treble, PRaT all of the audio lingo....Listen)!
When you listen through the headphones you remove all room interactions, EQ problems, balance, speaker placement seating position etc.
What you have now is what you got. If it sounds utterly fantastic and you start hearing micro and macro details you never heard before, holographic soundstage, 3D the band is there in the room... whatever, you will know it is your set-up and not the equipment. Make changes one at a time get a pad and pen and take notes, use tape etc.
You and many others who read this and are in the mood to upgrade may find out that they already own the best equipment. (p.s. there is no Best component in any category). You just need to do the hard part.
Buying equipment is easy, and if you have good cash flow you could be buying and selling a new sysytem every other week. That is not the goal or is it? Sometimes I wonder.
It seems like some people are constantly buying and selling, there names appear evry few weeks. Some people have 300 to 500 deals. They also complain about the Merry-Go-Round. Go Figure!
These are the people that keep audiogon up and running. They will never get off of the treadmill. IMO, if someone has alraedy bought and sold 300 pieces of gear, it is likely that they have already bought the best components time and time again and yet they are still looking. Also IMO, that is why audio magazines and reviewers stay in business. Every week/month/quarter there is a new top "10" in whatever category you like. What they don't tell you but you should know intuitively just by reading the reviews is "EVERYTHING SOUNDS GREAT, WILL WORK WELL IN MOST IF NOT ALL SYSTEMS, SHOULD BE PURCHASED BY THE READER IF LOOKING AND IS HIGHLY RECCOMMENDED BY THE REVIEWER."
In short, what this means to me is that, "Almost without fail, any piece of equipment you buy is going to sound fantastic, perform as good or better than its peers and will mate with gear you already own with no problem and will be enjoyable". (Realize that you still need to pay attention to what you have so that you don't go and buy a 85db 2ohm speaker to mate with a 10watt tube amp with a weak transformer or impedence mismatches etc).
In closing, you have great components already, I am surprised with the quality of your gear you have a deficiency. I am betting that your set-up and room are keeping you from experiencing their best.