The best Cdp that have volume control

At the risk of disagreeing with my good buddy John_1 above, I owned a Sony XA7 for several years and much preferred to use it with my SF Line 2 pre-amp. I did try it direct to McCormack DNA-2DX amp and found it highly detailed, but thin, lightweight, flat, and uninvolving. The HQ tube pre-amp added considerable body, weight,timbral richness, and a natural holographic quality that direct to amp didn't even come close too. So, in this respect I fully agree with Doug's experience/position of using a good tubed pre-amp with, if necessary, a less expensive CD player. Ideally, I would want both a good front end and a good pre-amp. I have not heard either of the RA CD players, but they are well regarded in the audio press. Cheers. Craig.

...too "mesmerized" to comment!

I hesitate to get involved in this thread, but the post above on the Wadia reminded me that, if I'm not mistaken, the initial review on the Wadia spoke of how the volume control on the Wadia was in the digital domain, and that by using the volume control to attenuate the signal (rather than running it more open and with very little attenuation, as noted in the post), the player was using some of its 16 bits to effect the attenuation, thereby at least theoretically degrading the ultimate resolution of the machine. So Jla's advice on setting the internal switches to allow for the need for less attenuation of the signal is a good one, for that player. I don't know how many players with adjustable output use this mechanism (or, if they do but are true 24-bit players, whether they would not have any noticable degradation due to their significantly higher computing power), or if they do the attenuation in the analog domain, but it may be worth looking into.

"who cares if you have listened to res-audio for 50 years, & i only heard it the 1st time yesterday? what's important, is how one thinks something *sounds*." I agree, and you certainly wouldn't better know the signature after one evening, and me having 50 years. The point is, as you state above, that you "don't care" what my expereince has been, and I'm ok with that...it only helps my position here, and helps to show your pathetic bias.

Or to use spellcheck, apparently....