This will probably infuriate some more people but I calls them as I hear them. I just got the Pioneer PD-59 CD player in & too my total shock, the sound to me was as close to perfect as I'm ever going to get. It actually, I know no one wants to hear this, sounded the best when connected by optical cable straight to my Denon 3801 receiver as opposed to connecting a pair of $50 or so analog cables & hooked up to the Adcom GDA-700 Digital to Analog converter, for my ears. The difference in sound quality between the PD-59 CD player & my Harmon Kardon 31 DVD player's best sounding connection, was almost night & day. The overall sound on the 2 channel CD's that I played was fuller, more vibrant, more detailed, richer & more natural then the Harmon Kardon. As I said, I preferred the sound once again of the optic cable connection as opposed to analog cables as well as the Adcom GDA-700. Perhaps with better more expensive analog cables maybe I'd have a different opinion but I'm just basing them with what I have. Looks like I already have a buyer for the GDA-700 but if that falls through & anyone else is interested in it, let me know. It's in perfect condition. Pioneer apparently made better, albeit more expensive models then the PD-59, such as the PD-65 which went for $450 used on Ebay.