Some inexpensive players sound fantastic for what you pay for them. Having said that, some more expensive players & digital combo's add more refinement at most every level of performance. While i'm not directly familiar with the Arcam gear, what i know about it tells me that there is a "bottleneck" somewhere in your system. By no means am i saying that the Sony is a piece of junk, only that i would tend to believe that the Arcam "should be" superior in an audibly discernable manner. If you can't tell a difference, then i can't see any reason to justify the expense of changing components. Spending more money to upgrade without an audible improvement isn't "upgrading", it's just wasting money at this point in time. Then again, there are those that enjoy spending money and buying esoteric gear. To them, the gear is as important as the sound and investment made. To me, the bottom line has always been the best performance for the buck, brand names be damned. Sean
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