Best Tube CDP for $2000 Budget

I just looked at the guts of the Doge 6. For me there is no choice, staying with my Cayin 17.

look at the german web site for Cayin. trust me all their designs are top notch. The guts of the 17 are stunning!!!!
Prima Luna is NOT Cayin. dream on.

Thae descrip of the Doge 6 with 6 out tubes single ended triode makes me think twice about the wonderful Cayin 17 with its 4 tube 6922 output..... I have pre comming from pacific in a few weeks, may have to do other business with them..

have not heard the Unison. look forward to the 4 tube prima luna. I thought the cayin SACD and the Cayin 17 were built on close specs. So i figured they would sound 'similiar". I had the stock chinese 6922's rolled to Sovtek ( $150/quad)and made a nice tweak + the 4 opamps(labor + parts $200 I think) changed, which gave me another nice improvement. I'll lookmat your review of the Melody. I'm sure its a fine player, as is all their gear. As a audio reviewer you should consider the Cayin 17 in your next review. There may be better out there for same $, but I'm happy and will upgrade the caps to Mundorf's Silver in oil ($300+)

Mrtennis, why even mention Primaluna when they do not even have a web site????????????? Just forget it. "all players sound about the same"....Not true. Also reliability is of extreme importantce in cdp's.

let me ask some of you guys, does a photo of the guts of a player mean anything important to you?
I realize its not possible to tell exactly how a player will sound from a photo, but you at least see some of the build quality.

Well don't then. "almost the same" but indeed they are NOT EXACTLY THE SAME PLAYER. Stock tubes its a great sound, Sovtek tubes even better. Prima Luna is the lower end line of cayin, ASFAIK. The only other player that interests me is the Melody, which i hope to own one day, in spite of the fact that a guy in HK told me he's heard both and prefered the Cayin.

Raed the specs on the dealer's web page here on audiogon. The 17 are SACD 50 do in fact have more than one component difference. Your "i've heard the SACD 50 and was not impressed' holds little value. The quad of Sovtek 6922' s only cost me $150 and suggest you roll the stock chinese tubes when ever you do eventually get the 17. Then post a comment. the 4 opamps pop out easily, but hold off on that tweak as you critque the 17.

"you are a funny guy bartokfan",, yes I am a bit odd. Never followed the crowd, and enjoy voicing my opinion.
can you help me out with my dilema with the Defy 6550 tubes, trying to locate the KT90 tubes Ei/czech. Post on my topic.