Best CD Player for 800-1500 Used

Hello Grannyring,

Thanks for the thumbs up on my system. It means alot given your years of audio experience. Thanks for turning me on to the GMA Europas. You were'nt kidding! I'm constantly blown away (a nice thing) when I put a cd or lp on. Although, they are not the last word in high end monitors, they certainly take the prize for being the
most accessible entry into high end audio. Thank you
Roy, and ,thank you Bill!

Great to hear from you,
Michael

If the CJ DV-2B is the single-box unit, no I haven't heard it. My experience with the tubed dac and transport was so miserable that I wouldn't take one as a gift, which I recognize is an unfair assessment. The $3600 transport/dac combo I had was frequently in the shop (luckily I live within a half hour of the CJ plant), and the transport wouldn't recognize CDRs, CDRWs or about 10% of my CDs. And as I said, it was RESOUNDINGLY outperformed by a Pioneer DVD player. AFTER I got rid of it, my audiobuddies all told me how much they disliked it (thanks, guys). Yes, it did sound warm, laid back ... and really veiled.

I now have an Ack dAck 2.0 with the teflon cap option, playing thrugh a slightly modded Toshiba 3950 and it is an outstanding combo, sounding quite a bit better on Redbook discs than my Sony XA777ES SACD/CD player.

I do confess that I loved the LOOK of the CJ combo, enough to stick with it way too long. As the saying goes, YMMV. Dave

The DV-2B is the single box unit.
I have to confess that I have'nt had the pleasure of
hearing the Ack DAck 2.0. I'm sure that I'm missing out,
but, given the budget constraints I've worked within, I'm
more than satisfied with the system I've put together
over the past couple of years. I owe a huge debt to the
Audiogon community. Without this wonderful resource,
I'm sure that I would have made some serious and costly blunders along the way. My hats off to everyone
within the Audiogon community.
Mmaudio

Hi, Mmaudio, just a thought. You can put together an Ack dAck and a Toshiba 3950 or 3960 for well under $500 and have a real world-beater of a CD system. The earlier version Ack dAcks (1.0 thru 1.3) are going for $300-400 here on Audiogon. I saw a MODIFIED 3950 here for $150. Sorry, but these will really demolish the CJ, I truly believe. And you can probably get well over $500 for the CJ. In any event, good luck. Dave

I would recommend a Cary 303/200 - Class A sound at about $1500 +/- used, a heckuva player for that price.

Do a search on Cary 303 here and at Audio Asylum for comments and rave reviews. The 303/200 is a highly regarded, very musical player that has just been replaced by the new 303/300 model. You should be able to pick up the 303/200 easily as people upgrade to the 303/300.

I've used a Theta Miles (now that one's getting pretty long in the tooth), heard the Classe and purchased the NAD used for a friend's system. No offence to anyone who has these players, but the Cary 303/200 is in a another league from these. No comparison.

The Arcam CD 92, The Jupiter, and the Meridian 508.24. are also good players.