I am not sure if you think all transports , DACs, on screen displays are all the same, you it would translate to a say a Yugo drive as good as a Lamborghini.

As for me, I wrote out a mini-treatise/holy rote on the Marantz CD60 (or did I?) and *BAZINGA*, ’twas gone into the ether.

But until I can buy my druthers, the Marantz CD60 or the less beauteous Denon DCD-900NE from my local Best Buy, I shall suffer a plebeian existence with my two Integra DPS-5.5 DVD/CD Players.

I cannot hear a difference but I can see it and if I choose to buy a player for its looks and exemplary (albeit the same as other CD Players) playback, so be it. My ego. My moolah.

A man’s (or toad’s) reach should, occasionally, exceed his ego and wallet or what’s the point of buying anything of emotional worth?

And that, my friends, is exactly the point.

ORT

I just bought a Demon dcd600ne over a year and a half ago and it’s fed to a vintage Marantz 1070 with Beyerdynamics DT 700 pro x
Totally back into CDs again and they just sound so good, nothing beats physical media especially with how CD players have come
At almost 65 years old Im back into buying CDs again as there is a lifetime of music ahead

I’ve been listening to almost a dozen CD players this year in the same set-up and they don’t sound the same. Not at all.

I don’t think you have to go crazy and spend more than $1,000, but the Rega, Marantz, Audiolab, and NAD do not sound the same. I’ve been listening to them all summer and they each sound great, but their tonal balance is different, the detail retrieval is not the same, and the DAC chips are different, and it’s rather audible that they either push the presentation forward or sound more laid back.

Best,
Ian White

Just go buy an old Hi-fi CD player at the thrift store.