ML 390S vs dCS Verdi/Purcell/Elgar Plus

Mike, I find the Capitole excellent -- but not quite in the same class as CD-12, the big Lurne, Burmester, Goldmund or Boulder. Haven't carefully auditioned the big ML, so I can't venture an opinion. Also, I listen to classical, so others' mileage *will* vary.

On the other hand, Koen lives in Europe, so price-comparisons could be different, i.e. ML would be expensive vs. A-Aero, Goldmund, Burmester (superb sound that never really gripped me... I wonder why).

Nevertheless, I subscribe to Cornfed's idea of the (expensive) Boulder: you get a good pre (that is sold separately, & at a price, if I'm not mistaken) into the bargain.

Cornfed: could you compare the sound of the Boulder vs. a MLev -- just to give Koen a benchmark?
Cheers!

o.k if your have a 8000 cd and you looking for something for all your life as a cd player.
if you can buy as a player go for teac p-0 or cec tl-0mk2
and cream de la cream for converter is kondo's new ongaku converter and digital cable think about kharma enigma for power cord fim gold and jps aluminata.

I wouldn't spend that much on CD replay. The CDs themselves probably won't last as long as the players, sorry to say, making big bucks digital a little silly in my opinion.
But money is meant to spend, yeah oh yeah....

Every once in a while I re-read something stupid I wrote and this is one of them. What I meant to say was the the ML39, SCD-1, RA CD55 and EMC-1 I were in the same performance window. Clearly the high end separates of ML aren't.

Bill E.

I would suggest going with the 390S which I have heard versus the dcs. It has new dacs, new analogue boards and an incredible user interface with big characters that you can read from afar. Don't understimate this, the dcs have very small displays and you need to be very close to know exactly what you are listening to. The volume control is kind of strange too. Also be careful if using them straight with Levinson amps. Levinson amps don't have input capacitors and the internal relays within the dcs cause "chsssk" noises that are very audible when relays change status (i.e. when muting, changing filters). Hope this helps