Now that I've got my wife almost ready to let me shell out the cash for a new CD player, I'm trying to decide which of three to buy: the Marantz 8001, the Cambridge Audio 740 or 840. As I'm not especially interested in SACD playback, I suspect the Marantz will lose out on that accord.

According to lenghty (and quite informative) posts by Blackraven here, there seems to be a genuine sonic difference between the Cambridge Audio units. Still, I wonder if my system is good enough to be able to hear that difference. Everything I own is good, or "very" good, but all of it's rather old.

The Dahlquist DQ-10's may be "lengendary," and I love them to death, but I know that there are much better speakers out there, but for a helluva lot more money. The Definitive Technology sub is wonderful, but it too is outclassed by many other, newer units. The Adcom GFA-5800, designed by Nelson Pass, is, according to Nelson himself, "the best sounding amp Adcom ever made." A steal at its original list price of $1,500, and a sterling performer, but again, easily eclipsed by many newer, better, and far more expensive amps. The same is true of the Parasound PLL-1100 preamp, designed by John Curl, A very fine preamp, approaching the performance of costlier units, but still not their equal.

So, overall my system's certainly "good," but far from top of the line stuff available today. I still think it sounds far better than it has any right to (as have many who've heard it, and own costlier equipment themselves), but will it enable me to hear a $400 difference between the 740 ad 840 units from Cambridge?

Please feel free to chime in with your comments, as they'll be very helpful in making this buying decision. Thanks!