CD player 4 under $1200 McCormack/Vienna Acoustic friendly

spongebarb27 -- Mon, 11/20/2006 - 00:14

Hey,

I've been reading reviews for about a year now and have not been able to narrow down my search for a new cd player.
My system consists of:

McCormack DNA 125 Amp
Yamaha CX-2 Pre
Vienna Acoustics Motzart Grand Speakers
Kimber 8TC Speaker Cables
Terminator 2 interconnects
Marantz CD 67 SE player (currently)

I've actually listened to a Denon 2900 and 2910 head to head with my old Marantz and they could not even touch it...dry and uninvolving. (Hard to believe considering the Marantz is at least 10 years old.) I love the openness, rythm, musical airy quality of the marantz, but it is definately a bit on the sibilant/bright side with any recordings but the best. Can someone make some suggestions for me to take a look at under $1200?

Scott Naylor -- Mon, 11/20/2006 - 06:03

spongebarb-

Maybe a Benchmark DAC added to your existing player?

best,
Scott

fkrausz -- Mon, 11/20/2006 - 11:15

Don't overlook the Arcam players. Their ca. $800 player (I forget the model number) sounded competitive with more expensive units that I listened to (although at the end I couldn't resist buying their more expensive oversampling unit.)

spongebarb27 -- Tue, 11/21/2006 - 10:27

I keep thinking about Rega Planet or Musical Fidelity xrayv3...however the dealers are not too close. It would be dificult (if not impossible) to listen to them head to head.