Quote Originally Posted by blackraven
I have to disagree about CDP's. I have had 3 quality CDP's, the 840c, Music Hall 25.2 and the Marantz 8001. All have a very distinct and noticably different sound in my system. Maybe its my Magnepans which are very sensitive to the quality of recorded music as well as the quality of the amplifier. I think that CDP's can impact the sound of your system as much if not more than an amplifier and certainly much more than any cable, IC or power cord.
If I remember correctly, you found the largest difference between the Marantz and the others... with the Marantz being 'warmer' than the Cambridge and the Music Hall?

I wonder whether that could be due to different voicing of the players? I mean, whether Marantz goes for a less pronounced treble than say Music Hall and Cambridge...

To be honest, I suspect that some of the differences we do hear in brands isn't always that one sounds better/is more detailed than another, but may just be the way manufacturers choose to voice their components. Just try increasing/decreasing the treble/bass on an amp and see how different you can get it to sound.