2. digital
  3. 1329514155

Best Sounding CD / SACD player under 15K

My budget is 15K for a new or preowned CD/SACD player.

Not happy with the McIntosh MCD-500 player. My vintage Denon CD player out performs it. I was very disappointed in the McIntosh MCD500 player. I had the McIntosh MC601 amps and they were disappointing too. No more McIntosh gear for me.

I am on the market now and would like to keep under 15K for a new or preowned CD player. Also no multi format players .

Thanks for any suggestions.
joefama
amfibius
282 posts
 
Consider the usual suspects:

- Playback Designs MPS-5
- DCS Puccini
- EMM Labs CDSA
tmsorosk
1,013 posts
 
Ayre C5. Best I heard at any price, Added an ARC DAC for when we want a more analog like presentation.
chesebert
66 posts
 
Ayre does not belong with the above-mentioned players. Spent few hours with C5-Xe MP, EMM stack and Orpheus Labs OneSE, and it took all of 10min to decide Ayre should not be part of the comparison.

Add Esoteric K-03 and Klimax DS/1 to the list (although neither fits your exact requirement: no multi-format CDP)
More to discover