What's Absolute Best Upsampling CD Player $2K-$3K?

Well, Tekhifi, since you've dropped the upsampling criteria, your question has basically expanded into a "best $2000-$3000 CD player" thread. There are dozens of existing threads on that topic. I'd suggest a thread search.

The stock EC has a natural, organic sound. Define what you mean by tube sound vs. neutral sound. Specifically define the term "tube" and "neutral". "Tube" sound has as many definitions as snow in Alaska. A classic CJ tube amp does not sound like a VAC amp, yet both are tube circuits.

You'll lose dollars on a modified player upon re-sale, but the value of the performance boost you gain during ownership of a modified player may outweigh the monetary loss upon re-sale. Mostly, your decision on a stock vs. modified player must largely rest upon whether you plan to keep the modified player for at least two years, or whether you expect to sell it in a short time period. The reason modified CD players drop dramatically when re-sold is directly tied to the drop in value of stock players. Digital technology advances extremely quickly, and therefore CD players are soon replaced with new-and-improved models. It's tough to win the digital re-sale battle on any front. The benefit of modified players is they can provide (or surpass) the performance of stock players costing two or three times more.

Here's my short answer to your question: APL modified Philips SACD1000 with the latest DAC and Upsampler mods. They are usually avaliable for $2000-$2200.

Tvad, a small correction...Alex primarily uses the "upsampling" board to convert 16bit to 24bit words before going to the digital filter. At first he synchronously oversampled to 88.2kHz, but now has decided it sounds best at 44.1kHz...just using it to expand the word to 24 bit. I think there are only two of Alex's units that oversample to 88.2, the rest (most recent) stay at 44.1.

How is your player sounding? Mine has about 500 hrs on it now and sounds incredible. I originally was seriously thinking about taking Alex up on returning it because it was merely "decent" for the first 150 hrs...I'm glad I stuck with it. I must say that it has forced me to rethink some things because I've always been a skeptic when it comes to "dramatic changes" upon burnin. I've always noticed small changes with burnin, but nothing comparable to what I found to be true with the APL. The engineer in me hates when this happens!! LOL

Germanboxers,thanks for the correction. Funny enough,a month ago Alex would have said he preferred 88.2kHx oversampling. Next week he may find something new to change/prefer. He's constantly evolving his modifications to the benefit of us all.

The tray and puck arrangment are not a problem, even with a shelf above. Easy to reach, right in front.

Obviously this is system dependent. There are many in this price range. I would look at Cary, Ayre, Meridian and Musical Fidelity.