Best CD player under 5000

That darn EMC-1 just keeps coming back -- so many of you think its the best under $5K, I'm beginning to believe you. Where in the Toronto area can I hear one so I can finally justify the purchase and finally compare it with the Meridian, which I have heard and liked?

Don't know where to hear it in Canada but I second the opinion that it is fabulous. Demoed a 508 and the EMC head to head in a variety of setups (all EC and Mark Levinson kits) and the EMC1 was the clear champ to my ears.
I bought it (replaced an Arcam FMJ23, great player but the EC is better) and have never wanted for another format or upgrade. Any of the older EMC's can be upgraded to the new version (I have heard from several sources that the upgrade puts it into a league of possibly worlds best cdp contender) for around $1000. A used model at under $2500 would be a great value.

My two cents

I haven't seen any reviews in the hardcopy magazines but I can tell you that there are a number of Cary owners out there that just love their Cary 303 or 306.

I just got the new Cary 306/200 ($5000 LIST but you can get them for much less). It uses 8 Burr Brown DAC chips plus the new Pacific Microsonics PMD-200 digital filter with HDCD decoding. It's an outstanding CD player with or without the 24/192KHz upsampling enabled. The 306 can also be used as an outboard DAC for other gear. I sometimes run my Adcom GCD-700 5-disc changer through it to take advantage of the Cary DAC chips.

Audition either Cary if you get a chance. You might like them.

Sorry it has taken me so long to respond to this thread. I appreciate all the feedback, although I have as of yet not purchased a new cd player. Someone asked about the other components in my system. I have a CJ Premiere 17ls pre-amp with a MF-2500 amp and audioquest cables, viper interconnects and bedrock speaker cables; Thiel 3.6 speakers.