Okay......best single box reference CD player

Bill,

i am an open book. if someone cares about such things they can read my posting history; i hide nothing.

i would remind you to disclose you are a commercial dealer in competition with the distributor you refer to. while i personally think your intentions are honorable from your point of view others should know about where you come from.

many/most prominent posters here have close relationships with dealers and manufacturers.....or even have become part of the hifi business themselves.....it's the nature of the culture of this hobby. if someone asks me about my relationship with any dealer i will and have told the story.

ultimately; each poster's credibility or lack there-of is earned with what they say over time.

It was clear to me when I read Mike's review here and at the Asylum that he has a long-term relationship with the principals of PD. I don't and I'll be adding to his review in a couple of weeks.

Dave

Website for Playback Design MPS-5

http://www.bluelightaudio.com/playbackdesigns.html

Nothing comes close to Analog. But I will answer your thread. Audio Research CD7 is a darn good player. It is the best I have heard. I am sure there is better out there.

I'm not convinced that there is a best.

I suspect very high end CD players may just reassemble the bits in unique ways that helps differentiate the resulting sound and justify the price, but I'm not sure that any of these variations are necessarily better or more correct overall than others...just different.

There is only so many bits on a CD. IT doesn't cost a fortune in my opinion to build a CD player capable of reading most of them correctly without loss (computer cd drives do this all the time) and then use them to correctly construct the analog waveform needed prior to hitting the amp.