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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
jwm
908 posts
 
I have heard most of the bad boys and the best to me is the Modded Oppo 95 by modright.
jtein
36 posts
 
I'm love my Esoteric X-03 SE sacd/cd player BUT I'm very interested in the Meridian 808.3 cdp. RH of TAS has called it the most significant product in the history of CD players due to its apodising filter that eliminates pre-ringing not only during playback but also pre-ringing already existing in the music signal.
doggiehowser
672 posts
 
I think the Playback Designs MPS5 is a bit more than 15k now, with the USB-X upgrade.
avialuf
7 posts
 
Audio Aero products. I have a Capitole MK2 and I love it
kiwi_1282001
310 posts
 
Been through a number of players over the years. Currently (and for some time) been using the Cary Audio 306 PRO SACD/HDCD/CD/DAC.

The players high resolution with great bass and a hint of warmth which made it a far more attractive buy for me compared to options from EMM Labs, Esoteric and dCS which were great number crunches but I felt they presented the music in a somewhat detached, cool and sterile fashion. Further, the Cary is one of the few players out there that keeps SACD native AND supports HDCD which I rather like. Moreover, the Cary is one of the few players on the market that does true upsampling with multiple DAC's.

More details on my system and room here
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