Anyone who wants to respond to this thread only needs to read MrTennis's other posts. There is no answer to his question. He wants his player to sound like it has a sheet over the speakers. Which sounds like the only possible solution for him.
what makes the AMR worthy? It sounds as if you've already dismissed some worthy players IMO. Therefore here's some of my unworthy suggestions Oracle,Opera(Consonance),Roksan,Esoteric and Bel Canto. Don't think I could suggest anything really worthy based on your requirements/taste posted here
i'm not sure at this place in time, the better tube and ss players are necc all that different in regard to redbook cd performance. what are you using now? for 5k it may be impossible to buy a mediocre front end. even the oldie but goodie cj players and sonic frontiers combos still are competitive and feature tubes, if thats a must.
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