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

Dont ever buy a Mark Levinson #39, pure junk, I have owned mine for 4 years. Nothing but trouble, I have 20 year old el cheapos that still play. Last year I spent $800 geting all the caps replaced, the drawer recaled (that took em 1 month),and other stuff. This year my transport went out, $600 for that part and what ever for labor.
IN THE END A $6000 piece of crap.
oh but when it plays it does sound good, if it plays.

LEVINSON should be ashamed, used to think they made quality...boy I was wrong.

Give me a Wadia

I can't believe no one listed the Ayre C5xe in the list. This is the one to beat. You must use it in balanced mode however.

>>I can't believe no one listed the Ayre C5xe in the list<<

Believe it.

It would have been mentioned otherwise.

what's in the Ayre that's competing with Emmlabs, dCS or other top single boxes?

We are talking about -at least- over 1 class of performance.

Kops..Have you heard the Ayre in balanced mode in a good system? If you had you wouldn't ask that question.

Audiofeil... You were booed by many contributors on the Vinyl edition of Audiogon, and here you are again with your snide remarks on the digital section.

There is not a single product that pleases everyone, but surely ranking CD players, the Ayre unit should be listed in the handful of top players - those that provide real music in real time.