New or Old CD Player?

elizabeth-

I wanted to ask if you  bought the SA-10 review sample or did you opt for a factory new spinner? Thank You.
Happy Listening!

everest-
the Ayre is tempting, but, those guys did not stock pile the transport/laser assemblies for future replacement?
happy Listening!

everest-
2nd note;
Ayre does stock pile the drive/transport(s) for the DX-5 a/v engine.
Odd.

Happy Listening!

No, I did not buy the review sample. I am still waiting on delivery (soon)
(I am paying for a new machine, I want a new machine)
I just took an old Technics DVD-A10 from the closet. It is the only working RCA digital out CD spinner I have working...
I want one RCA and one Toslink drive.(I am wondering about the HDMI input.. Have to see if my DVD players HDMI can connect and play CDs?
As I wrote, My main plan is to play other machines through the Marantz SA-10 most of the time. (Saving the Marantz drive for special occasions) that way I figure the player will be the last $$$$ disc player I will ever buy... and even if the disc spinner died after warranty and no parts.. The Marantz as DAC will still be good.)

I've owned the Audio Research Reference 8 CD player for a couple weeks now. I figured I should at least give a few words on how I think it sounds.

First I dropped it into my Big Rig to get a feel for how it performs. It is highly musical and does nothing offensive. The highs are a touch restrained over my beloved Berkeley Alpha Reference 2 DAC. There's not quite as much air or three-dimensionality as with the Berkeley. The mids are smooth and a bit more pronounced than the Berkeley. The biggest difference is in the bass, where the AR gets a little wooly and not as tightly pitch defined. So, as an absolute, it would not displace my Berkeley DAC. But if the Berkeley is a 10, I'd give the Reference 8 a solid, um, 8.5.

But in my headphone rig, where if a recording is too hot on top, it'll blister your ear drums, the Ref 8 filters out a lot of that, resulting in a more enjoyable performance. I find it just about perfect for headphone listening. Musical and quite accurate. 

And a word on tube testing. I test ALL tubes with a Hickok 6000A tester before use. One of the triodes within one tube that came with the AR had a Significant loss in transconductance, about half output of the others. I had a spare 6h30 tube and used it. I don't know how much degradation in sound that one tube would have had. But it couldn't have possibly been positive.