I am considering upgrading my Marantz CD5000 CD player. One way is to go for a new CD player (Primare CD21 and Rotel RCD 1072 are strong favorites).
The other option is to buy a new external DAC and use the Marantz as a transport. Prospective candidates are Musical Fidelity X-DACv3 and North Star 192 DAC.
My final decision will (should) be based on the listening test, but I expect trouble getting the samples for home auditioning.
I'd like to hear/read opinions of more experienced people. Any other suggestions are also welcome.
Thnx!

Well, someone thought that they could describe us.

Audiophiles

I will let you be the judge on this one.....

After months (out of stock)i eventually managed to purchase my first HDAD disc.Alan parson's project "Eyes in the sky"
To be honest,i was dissapointed.Maybe i expected more but to my ears it sounded like something between a cd and sacd.
Is it because i chose the wrong disc?This particular one was "ported" from cd i suppose.Perhaps a "pure" live recording will be better?

So, a Stirful writer attended a bummer audio demo. Surprise, surprise It is an ongoing fantasy with the audio press types that useful demos are possible, even normal! Having suffered through the outrages of the past forty years of "An Evening With ..." let me relieve the tension: demo's suck. All of them. In fancy hotels, in private homes, in retail listening rooms with little triangular pillows in the corners of the ceiling ... forget about it.