Best CD player under $5K?

Hi Ivan,

I owned an Cambridge Audio 840C for several years and thought very highly of it. I remember auditioning many more expensive players at the time of purchase but the 840C held its own and then some. Outstanding resolution for a $1500 player. Like most CD players tweaking improved it further. I used a Nordost Vishnu power cord and mounted it on Eben Cold Rays. I've not heard the tweaked DacMagic so cant comment on it. It might use the same DAC but does it also incorporate the 32-bit Analog Devices Black Fin DSP or the Q5 upsampling from Anagram?

Just noticed where Mr. Sprey now offers an upgrade program for the 840c for $700.

I am a little wary on upgrade programs for CD Players. Some leave the player sounding 'different' rather than 'better'.

Know what you mean on that Kiwi and ordinarily I agree with you. But, in my book Mr. Sprey is also one of the very few modders I feel I can trust implicitly. In fact, as far as I'm aware anyone apart from Ric or Mr. Sprey personally I'd have to think twice about, if at all. If you want, see my post above here on the 24th for my own 2 cents on all that.

My only problem is that, now that Mr Sprey's offer for an upgrade of the 840c is finally a reality, it's too bad they've been discontinued so long you now can't find a single one on the web anymore, new or used... :(