Marantz 8260 vs Musical Fidelity 3.5 vs cary 308

I am used to having very expensive CD players around - $2000.00 to $15,000.00. I also sell items for friends, so I get to audition them in my home.
I sold a system for a friend, (he does that a lot, for no particular reason?!) and the Marantz 8260 was one of the units he brought me.
I was very surprised by the quality of the 8260! Given its price, particulalrly in the Used market, it would have been just stupid to sell it! I kept it for myself for a second system.
You do have to read the manual. The player got a bad rap from dummies who just droppped a CD in and pressed "Close". You have to tell it what kind of CD or SACD you are inserting. You press a little button on the face that cycles thorugh SACD Multi, SACD Stereo and CD Stereo. Then it closes automatically and plays without a hitch. I prefer that to players who automatically default to a particular layer, which forces you to stop it and select another layer that YOU wanted to play.

Thanks Goldenears, good food for thought.
Beernut

i have had 3- 8260's over the last 2 years ( i bought it new with warranty intact..) this made me move to seperates (a 60lb pioneer dv-10 and a electrocompiet dac.. the pioneer is pretty good on its own with the xlr outs..)

they are a very good musical unit at the price point... however the quality control issue is something to consider and would really think twice about acquiring a used one (non transferable warranty)