What is the best redbook CD player for 6K to 8K?

The digital player I have owned that rendered the most lifelike 3D holographic image is the APL Denon 3910. It was scary.

Other players I have owned include Exemplar Denon 3910, Exemplar Denon 2900, Empirical Audio EMC 1-UP SE, Modwright Sony 999ES, Marantz SA-14, APL Phillips SACD1000, Shanling T200.

06-11-06: Mattkimb96
I am not going to say it is the best, but don't let the fact that the Ayre CX-5 is an SACD player remove it from your consideration set. The fact it plays SACD's is a bonus. The thing is an unbelievable Redbook performer and is a SIGNIFICANT upgrade to the CX-7e player across every parameter. If I had $6,000 to spend on a CD player I'd get the Ayre and never look back.
Mattkimb96 (System | Threads | Answers)

The Ayre is near the top of my list, too. I heard the C-5xe in a couple of rooms at HES in LA, and none of them had holographic sounding images, so I began to wonder if it was what I was looking for.

Have you heard the Ayre create a 3D image? Only tubed CD players have done this in my experience.

I don't think the stock CX-5 would be in the same league as the APL or the Theta though. Tvad could answer that question regarding the APL I think.
Jp1208 (Answers)

Regarding Ayre C-5Xe vs. APL Denon 3910? I'm afraid I can't as haven't heard the Ayre in my system.

The APL Denon 3910 is the best digital I have ever heard in my home. The Exemplar Denon 3910 is excellent (I own one now), as is the Modwright 999ES. The Exemplar is more balanced top to bottom than the Modwright, but it's really a matter of personal preference. The Modwright Denon 3910 has just received an excellent review on Enjoythemusic's Superior Audio website.

APL 1000 has sold the APL very quickly and purchased the X-01. So did I, after listening to his modified 1000. . . . to state it bluntly there was no contest.
Guidocorona (Threads | Answers)

That's an apples to oranges comparison, and the APL Philips SACD1000 was so many iterations ago, that using it as a barometer of a modified player is unfair. It's like requiring a single A baseball team to be competitive with a major league baseball team (KC Royals excepted).

Guido, you seem to have a Jones for APL. I encourage you to let it go. You do your homework like few others on Audiogon, and it's not like you to comment on gear you haven't heard.

Please listen to an APL Denon 3910, or an APL NWO-1, and then make your comparisons with the thoroughness and fairness you've displayed in the past.

If Redwoodgarden is still looking for the best redbook CD player for 6K to 8K, I suggest he wait for Aplhifi's new transport and DAC to become available.
Kana813 (Reviews | Threads | Answers)

That's a very good suggestion if a two box solution is a possibility.

I don't understand your Jones for APL, Guidocorona, but you're like a vampire hunter with stake in hand when it comes to that company. I was the same way with Electraglide Audio, but I took it in the shorts from that company for a year. How have you been harmed by APL, or are you simply our APL consumer advocate watchdog?

It seems to me, the APL customers who waited a long time to receive their repaired APL Phillips SACD1000 machines have the most reason to gripe about customer service concerns at APL, yet none of these customers have written anything unfavorable here or on the APL discussion boards since their machines have been repaired and returned.

07-09-06: Guidocorona
TVAD, the controversy seems to have started by a generic remark I posted on 06/14, which was not at all mentioning APL, nor it was especially written with APL in mind. While other modifiers took the high road, APL took exception to my statement.

As I look back through the thread, it appears the controversy started as a result of a post made by you on 6/30/06, not on 6/14/06, in which you suggested that anyone who purchased a modified digital source was taking a risk of not being able to have their machine repaired.

You wrote:

06-30-06: Guidocorona
... please be understanding of those original manufacturers when they look at you real funny like, the day you bring them that little beauty under warranty, just because it stopped working prior to the expiration of the warranty. And be even more understanding of their incredible sense of humor, when -- laughing their head off -- they point at that obscure little finprint on the warranty card which -- truth to tell -- did warn all and concerned about immediate, sudden and catastrophic loss of warranty coverage upon the machine even being smelled by unauthorized hands, let alone lovingly yet radically 'improved' by a solder-gun-happy modder-genius.

Your quotations around the word improved indicates your sarcastic usage of the word. Certainly, anyone can understand how a modifier might take umbrage at the remark.

APL responded on 6/30/06 with a professional response in which Alex stated his policy of honoring the factory warranty period on any digital machines he uses in his NWO-1, NWO-2, or other APL HiFi products.

06-30-06: Aplhifi
Guidocorona, can't speak for anyone else, but when it comes to the digital players I re-design, I am honoring the original "factory" warranty they have, regardless of the failure.

I see no controversy started or continued by APL. Rather, IMO, the controversy was started by you and your sarcastic tone regarding modified digital players, and the suggestion that anyone who purchased a modified or re-engineered machine would be left high and dry should a need for service arise.

03-07-07: Ctm_cra
Hi Tvad - Did you have the latest version Exemplar 3910 with the tube output stage (please pardon the rookie-like question)?

I had the tubed output and transformer coupled balanced outputs. I don't know if what I had is the latest iteration. It was at the time. Things change so quickly in the realm of modded players, I tend to think something must have changed since I sold mine.

...did your APL 3910 also have a tube output stage (what DACs/how many, and what type of power supplies)? If so, did you compare the two side-to-side?

Yes, my APL had the tubed output stage and AKM DACS (six per channel as I recall). The version of AKM DACs was something along the lines of version 6 or 7 out of the final 14 versions. I don't recall the power supply. It was not the linear power supply that was eventually abandoned.

I did compare them side by side, and I prefered the APL by a wide margin. It was more natural sounding, and as I have already written, the APL brought music to life in my system. The Exemplar, while very good, simply was not to my taste. The one thing I found particularly out of line with my preferences was its treble response. I found it to be too pronounced. The sound of the Exemplar Denon 3910 was overall more analytical than the APL, IMO.

Analytical (Exemplar) versus natural (APL). That was the bottom line.

My opinion only. My system. My ears. My preferences.

Were these differences consistent for CDs and SACDs? Or was there a more pronounced difference in one format over the other?
Ctm_cra (Threads | Answers)

Honestly, I did 98% of my listening to redbook CDs or DVD-A. I don't own very many SACDs, but the differences were consistent in the DVD-A format.