$500 single CD player

[accastil]

folks, im choosing between cam audio 640C, rotel rcd-1070, cam audio 540C, rotel rcd-1072, marantz 5001.

[nightflier]

What kind of sound are you looking for? Are you willing to buy used?

[accastil]

looking for a well balanced natural sounding CDP. doesnt matter if new or used unit.

[nightflier]

Well, I bought an Audio Refinement CD Complete for $500, barely used. It is very neutral and balanced, definitely not bright. I do all my sit-down-and-have-a-drink listening on this player. It is very pleasant. Audio Refinement is the lower-cost line from YBA, but they are a notch above the Cambridge Audio, lower-end MusicHall stuff. and the brighter Yamaha/Denon/Marantz players in the sub-$1K players, IMO. I've auditioned many of these and settled on the AR. Coupled with a good DAC, it becomes a truly amazing combination.

That said, for my critical listening / auditioning of other components I use an Adcom player. It is much more edgy and bright, but allows me to hear things that I might be looking for in another component. I don't really care to listen to it for too long, though.

Some other used players to consider: Jolida (if you can find one), Arcam (lots on eBay & Audiogon), Krell (may be too expensive), and the higher-end stuff from Marantz & Denon (although these can be bright). One player that people keep mentioning is the Marantz SA-8260. I haven't auditioned that one, mostly because I'm presuming it might be on the bright side of neutral, but I could be wrong. Anyhow, there's a new model of this player out now, so the 8260 is probably going for something within your price range. As a bonus, it plays SACDs.

[Mr Peabody]

If you can scrap together another couple hundred www.spearitsound.com has the Audio Refinement Alpha new in box for $695.00 regularly $1,045.00. I think AR is out of business now. The Arcam entry level player is also at the same price new. Arcam is an incredible CD player. The Arcam Alpha 9 was the top of the line some years back and I recall seeing one on Audiogon for around $500.00. That is a killer player.