Which CD player do you suggest?

[abcxyz]

I tried a few CD players and wanted to ask what others would say is an honest CD player (good resolution) but without being artificial sounding?

[Mr Peabody]

You didn't say what you tried or how you liked them, or what your budget was. The Emotiva ERC-1at $399.00 is a straight forward unit for reasonable money and way better than average build. I tend to think my CD Player with a price pushing $3k is excellent as well.

[poppachubby]

Moon Equinox, Creek CD43 MKII / CD 50 MKII, most Rega units.

[abcxyz]

I want to keep it at $1000 or so, new or used.

I had:
Arcam CD62, CD92, FMJ23T
Jolida JD100
Cary 308T, 308 (the 308 is what I have now)

I tried also:
Naim CD5i
Rega Apollo

The Cary CD players sound the most resolving and the least digital to me of all these!

[JoeE SP9]

Have you considered a DAC? If the transports in your players work a DAC may be the answer.

[recoveryone]

Another factor to consider is what are you feeding it, or what do you want to play: SCAD,DVDA, standard CD. I don't buy much CD's anymore, but as with vinyl the quality of the master is key. I have heard some CD's that are so clear and the bass tight and others that are muddy. Todays access of the technology most players do a good job even as cheap as under $200.00. Now days you pay more for the flexibility of a player that is more universal in its ability to playback more formats. I think Joe may be more on the right track in that your AVR or adding a DAC plays more of a part of the sound quality than the transport itself.

[abcxyz]

Makes sense. Thanks.

[blackraven]

First off, how would you characterize the sound of your system-warm, bright or neutral sounding?

Here's a few CD players and how they sound to me ( by the way, a good DAC may be a better way to go as mentioned before )

Rega Apollo SE- excellent neutral sound, I have nothing but praise for this player, its a top loader though.

Cambridge Audio 740c or a used 840c- very revealing and detailed sound which leans on the brighter side of neutral. The 840c has xlr in/outs and it can be used as an external DAC for other digital sources. Both these units are built like tanks and have excellent remotes. I owned both in the past but settled on a DAC instead.

Marantz SA8003 SACD player- Has a warmer more analog sound, less detailed than the others but an overall pleasing sound and more tolerant of bright and poorly recorded music. Its earlier version (SA8001) was given a Stereophile Magazine Class A rating. I owned the SA8001 (and did an in home audition of the 8003) but preferred the sound of the Cambridge units. If I had a bright sounding system, I would certainly go with the Marantz.

Some DAC's to consider are the PS Audio Digilink III, Benchmark DAC and Van Alstine DAC's. There are many more to choose from but these are the one's that I am familiar with.

[Mr Peabody]

How did you like the Arcam? I find them typically excellent. The Sim Audio is a good suggestion. If wanting to pursue the DAC avenue and you like Cary, you should give Audio Note a listen. I also like Musical Fidelity who offers both DAC's and single box units. PS Audio also offers a nice DAC in your budget. As well as having a good sound to start with a player has to have synergy with the rest of your system as well. As much as I like Arcam, back when I ran Krell in my main system it didn't seem to have the best synergy and I ended up stepping up into a Krell CDP.

[RGA]

The following CD player and DAC makers that sound the best out of all the ones I have heard:

Audio Note (zero times oversampling, no error correction, no digital or analog filters)
Zanden (pretty much a copy of the audio note design except that has an analog filter - and the price of entry is far far higher)
EMM Labs

So far that about does it for CD replay that I would purchase - Although I would give both Benchmark and Ayre a try - I enjoyed the latter as a USB DAC and if it is close or as good for CD replay I would include them.

Unfortunately all of them cost a lot except the AN Kit 2.1 (which is still $1500) and you have to build it yourself and it's only a DAC. I have heard good things about the new Zero line which will be considerably cheaper but I can't say cause I have not heard it.

For cheap CD replay you'll probably be fine with Cambridge Audio, Arcam, certain Rotel models (although some have been lackluster) and Rega (though there have been major issues with their on board computers reading discs etc so make sure those have been resolved). Grant fidelity makes a really nice very cheap preamp/DAC they sell for under $300 and it greatly improved my $800 Cambridge Audio CD player. Plus it's a preamp, headphone amp, DAC and USB DAC. And it runs Solid State or Tube whichever you select. It's also built pretty darn well and way above it's price class. But it does have a bit of flavour a little like the Rega Planet with the reverb. Still for the money it's quite great.

[JohnMichael]

I enjoy my Marantz SA8001 and if I had to do it all over again I would listen to the SA8003.