The best CD Player for the money

I realize this is heresy, but to answer the implied question that prompted this thread, "THE BEST CD PLAYER FOR THE MONEY"...

imho, the best CDP for the money goes as follows:

MacMini

(in additon to playing music from the HD or showing movies from the disc drive or directly on line, you can wirelessly connect to Rhapsody or Pandora or iTunes)

into
a HQ USB cable (Ridge Street Audio or Synergistic Research)

into
an Ultra Fi iRoc DAC (or other asynch DAC)

single ended IC
into your preamp or integrated amp...

and wa-lah you have the best CD player and more for the money (imho)

You probably won't miss SACD. You'll begin to wonder about your TT and vinyl collection.

You'll rip your Redbook CDs into lossless format, and (wow) they will sound better than played on your CDP.

It's pretty cool, imho, and if you get an excellent USB cable, the audio quality is absolutely stunning regardless of $ (which was the original question).

FYI, I have a Cary 303/300... that should set a perspective on the MacMini USB DAC points I'm making.

Yeah, the Cary is very, very good but... I'm really wondering about how good by comparison, and when you consider its limited functionality... it plays CDs... that's it. And it has a much bigger footprint than the above.

The MacMini combo does a whole lot more... and you don't even have to have a screen... you can use an iTouch or iPhone to control your play list and Pandora, etc. with the proper Apple software.

Just my opinion...

Happy listening,

Ed

.

"I don't know where the name redbook came from..."

It was as simple as the color of the cover on the technical paper published by Philips when they specified what a standard audio CD was.

Audio Research DAC 1. Far better than Rega. One of the very best ever. The DAC1 is very revealing and detailed without the slightly unatural sounding, brighter tone of the Regas. Instruments with the DAC1 sound as they should and just float about in space. Incredible soundstage. Can be had for around $750 to $850.

Just visited Xindak showroom (Lotus Audio Import)in RMAF-2008. There, Xindak Muse Deluxe 1.0 CDP/DAC-8 combo looked and sounded wonderful. To my years, however, the CDP alone sounded as detailed, open, and transparent as the combo, and at 50% the $$$. By the way, it gets you tube output as well as solid-state. Built like a tank.

Budget: USD1500

The Cambridge Audio 840C is the best CD Player I have heard for $1500. I have compared it to Rega Apollo, NAD Master Series M5, Primare 30, Naim CD5i, Linn Genki and a Sony SACD player (forgotten the model number, but around $1000 price)