Not long ago, I decided to replace my Marantz 67SE player since I figured
that the advancements in CD players over the last 10 years should yield
better sonics, even in the $500 range. Boy, was I ever wrong. I tried several
around the $500 range and decided I could live with my Marantz until it
dies or until I'm ready to spend considerably more money.

I think the smart move might be to buy one of the Oppo players at around
$200 and keep an eye out for a Marantz 8001 on deal. I've seen new ones go
for under $700, with full warranty and not factory seconds.

Cambridge Audio....I think a 640 v2 model might fit within your budget and would be decent, IMHO.

The NAD players are pretty nice too- and as always a good value.

Bill - while you're on your search, get yourself a Playstation 1 SCPH-1001 for about $25-30 to tide you over until you find what you like. (Make sure to get the PS2 remote - around $8-15 - if you want to circumvent the messy game controller & cord.) That's what I did and I found out really quickly that the PS1 was actually better than a lot of the players I was auditioning (I was looking at CDPs upto $1500.) Actually, I liked it better than all of the players I'd heard up to that price point (I liked Primare CD31 better, but it's $2K+.) So that's when I stopped looking and settled on the PS1. I'm sure there are people in this forum & elsewhere who think this is tomfoolery, but there are plenty others who are of the same mind, who are savvy audiophiles & insiders (John Devore used PS1 as source in his CES showroom a couple years ago. No DAC, no nothing.)

I'm sure PS1 won't float everybody's boat, but you got nothing to lose. The worst that can happen is that you'll sell that PS1 back on eBay or something for $25 again.

See this thread below:

http://forum.stereophile.com/forum/showf...rt=all&vc=1

Quote:
Any thoughts on 1072?

Bill,

The 1072 is an excellent choice...my biased opinion, of course, beings I'm about to purchase one with a matching Rotel RA-1062.

You should also consider a Music Hall CD25.2 (which I have along with the A25.2)...check with Wally at www.underwoodhifi.com I think he has a couple for under $500.

As someone else mentioned, NAD has some very worthwhile CDPs in your price range. Good luck.

Quote:
Re: PS1 - there's a video game thing in my house, Xbox, and it does make noise while it's running - much more than an audio component. Is the PS1 really free of that?

My PS1 is totally noise-free in operation. But John Marks, in his column, comments that his model had noise issues, so you should check it out. PS1s are old consoles, so there are bound to be lemons. I've had an Xbox before & I totally know what you're talking about, the whirring, etc. PS1 doesn't have that noise issue.

Nice job, guys!

Today this category (less 500

Quote:
Not long ago, I decided to replace my Marantz 67SE player...

I think the smart move might be to buy one of the Oppo players at around
$200 and keep an eye out for a Marantz 8001 on deal. I've seen new ones go
for under $700, with full warranty and not factory seconds.

I have a Marantz CD-67SE II, but I'd considered replacing it with an 8001 in order to add 2-channel SACD playback. Has anyone compared these two Marantz models on CD playback?

I have seen on the "second hand" market a couple of Musical Fidelity A3.2 at around $750.00, if you can find an A3 will probably be exactly in your price range, and that would be a steal :-) (just another idea...)

I would consider either the Music Hall 25.2 or the Onix CD 5 from Underwood HiFi. Both of these have excellent mods available through Underwood/Parts Connexxion that take the machines to near Phile Class A (Cairn Fog) country and can be done now or later. The Onix player is the older Music Hall player CD 25 and it is a black face player...if that matches your system better than the newer MH CD25.2 in brushed Aluminum. Underwood HiFi

Yes, the CD-5001 is a giant-killer in my opinion.

CD5001 + Nordost Blue Heaven IC + PrimaLuna PL 2 + Infinity Primus 360 = Ohmygod-I-can't-believe-it's-so-good.

Of course, there are those who would beg to differ, even making interesting comments about my hearing ability:

http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/1/426059.html

I would like to hear the Music Hall CD 25.2 someday, but the CD-5001 sounds so good in my system that I probably won't for a long time.