I also have found Arcam is probably the best value in cd players. The performance you get for the money is outstanding. I had the Alpha 9 for awhile and the info it was able to pull off my cd's was amazing. I bought my Alpha 9 after a side by side comparison with a California Audio Labs costing twice as much.

I'm not familiar with Swan but you said a couple things I have to pat you on the back for. First off, you trusted your ears when they tried to steer you away from the Swan. And you didn't shop by price, you know, "this is more, it must be better, somehow".

Rush Moving Pictures isn't a very bass heavy cd. There are much better demo pieces. On the other hand along with good recordings I always bring Eric Clapton Slow Hand. Not an audiophile recording but it somehow has made it to almost every speaker demo I've had. I think because I had it when I got a chance to play it on the Krell $25k cd/preamp combo going through Krell monoblocks into some Dynaudio Confidence 5's. This system must have been perfect for the room because I've yet to hear a better one. Now I take the Slow Hand cd to compare everything else to that magic listening session.