while i agree that a receiver may be in fact the weakest link in gun's system, i'm also of a mind to agree w/detlof & makersmark - ya can't make gold outta crap. my system is very revealing, imo - melos music director preamp, a pair of meret re monitors (same drivers & designer as the artemis eos, if you're not familiar w/the meret's), being vertically bi-amped w/a pair of electrocompaniet aw60ftt's. in this system, a $3k resolution audio cd-50 & an $1800 alchemist nexus cd player offered no improvement over a $500 nad 515 5-disc cd changer. i really believe that a decent $500 cd player will get you 95% of the best $20k+ cd rigs out there. especially if you use a tube preamp to run your cd-player thru.
all that said, i *was* able to get a worthwhile improvement from digital playback - to the point where i actually enjoy listening to cd's! ;~) it didn't cost an arm & a leg either - $122 will get you an art di/o dac from fullcompass.com. then, spend ~$100 to tweak it, or send it to wayne at boldercables.com, if you're not a diy'er, & he'll do it for ~$200. search this site, & audio asylum's digital forums for info on the di/o. or, go here for a *lot* of info, especially on upgrading it, all in one place, w/lotsa links, so even a compleat electronics idiot (like me!) can do upgrades him/herself:
http://www.interlog.com/~cfraser/DIO.htm
doug s.