Hearing how well the ERC-1 did against my DAC's and an excellent reference player that would be my choice to recommend for CD playback. I would bet the ERC would out class the 8003 or 840. I'm telling you guys this unit is a great player regardless of price.

For the money and value you should try the ERC and USP, you are looking at slightly above $800.00 with shipping and if they don't do the trick you can always send one or both back. The ERC has amazing detail as good as higher end Arcam players I've heard. I haven't heard the USP preamp but if it performs to the extent the CD player does you'd be getting sound quality equal to several times your expenditure.