Downforce
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Sherbourn CD-1 player? Or an old IBM laptop with JRiver and a DAC?
commsysman
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The OPPO BDP-95 and BDP-105 have what is arguably the best DAC money can buy.

I got rid of my $6000 Ayre SACD/CD player after I bought the BDP-95; its SABRE DAC is the best I have ever heard, and at $1000 it is a steal; sort of like if they came out with the best Ferrari ever made for $20K...lol.

The next best thing, if $1000 is too much money, is the BDP-103 for $499. It too is a wonderful unit for its price, with a ton of features and flexibility. The Sherbourn doesn't even come close.

Another player that is excellent for its $350 price tag is the Marantz CD5004, but it is CD only, whereras the OPPOs play SACD, CD, DVD, and Bluray discs, plus you can load a huge amount of music onto a 16 GB USB flash drive using 320K MP3 files and plug it into the front USB socket of an OPPO and play high-quality music that way.

The music you put on the flash drive is also playable in the audio systems of most newer cars.

 

Check the OPPO webpage for a list of features and specs.

Bill B
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A CD player makes a better CD player than any computer, in my opinion.  It loads faster and starts playing your music with no muss no fuss no waiting.  And they last almost forever.

A computer makes a better computer music player than any CD player, in my opinion.  Using your JRiver or iTunes or Audivaran or Amarra or etc., you have so much flexibilty in accessing your music, making playlists, utilizing all streaming rates/bit rates/high res downloads, internet radio.  But it has it's complications and takes time to set up (and update/maintain).

So - i guess both if you feel like you can.

 

Downforce
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at $499, with all the formats it plays. I was looking for a Bluray player as well.

FYI, I see the Sherbourn brand will be phased out and rolled into Emotiva, and the prices of remaining Sherbourn components have been slashed as a result. And an Emotiva rep told me the ERC-2 CD player is being discontinued and will be replaced by a new model. Perhaps the new Emotiva will be similar to these great Oppos, but that's just a guess on my part.

I've really enjoyed using my laptops with JRiver Music Center, although I did have some trouble selecting the correct audio quality output mode for the Windows XP machine (it's Kernel Streaming). But as Bill B said, computer audio can be complicated, daunting and I often wonder if it is worth the trouble.

Thank you to commsysman, Bill B and everyone else that contributes to The Entry Level forum. It's one of my favorite resources.

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