The top of the line Adcom is a very nice preamp is rated Class A by Stereophile and can be found used for less than $1000 or by it new for about $1500 it sounds great.
If you want to run with out a preamp, you would need to by a fairly expensive CD Player.
I would recommend the Levinson #39 or #390s. These units sound great without the preamp and are built to be played that way. You should be able to find a #39 for about $3000-$4000 on Audiogon or audition and buy an new #390s at a dealer and you'll still be way ahead.
The cool thing about these units is that if you want to add a preamp like the #380s or other high quality preamp as funds appear you can still do so and still have one of the best CD players out there in the #39 and #390s.
Another upside would be that if your preamp ever needs updating/service you could still use the #39 for both in your system and not be out of tunes.
Good listening,
Steven
If you want to run with out a preamp, you would need to by a fairly expensive CD Player.
I would recommend the Levinson #39 or #390s. These units sound great without the preamp and are built to be played that way. You should be able to find a #39 for about $3000-$4000 on Audiogon or audition and buy an new #390s at a dealer and you'll still be way ahead.
The cool thing about these units is that if you want to add a preamp like the #380s or other high quality preamp as funds appear you can still do so and still have one of the best CD players out there in the #39 and #390s.
Another upside would be that if your preamp ever needs updating/service you could still use the #39 for both in your system and not be out of tunes.
Good listening,
Steven