Quality CD Player

Not sure if this is the right forum for this but it's the closest match I can find. Basically, can anyone recommend a shortlist of QUALITY cd players that I could audition. Component matching is a no no, I'm not interested in partnering a bass hungry cd player with a bass light amp, speakers etc., these babies have got to be neutral, detailed with as little colouration as possible. Cost is not an issue. Much. Well, within reason OK?

For info, the cd player will feed a Stax SRM 007t valve amp into SR 007 earspeakers, nothing else.

[NicolasB]

Define "within reason".

[rnjones]

I would check out Linn and Arcam

Rog

Naim CDS3 - £7400 of your hard earned, but the best available (IMO)

[alexs2]

Depending on how within reason price is......At the very top end
Krell KPS25sc and Linn CD 12,with the dCS system also well worth looking at...all of these are excellent players with little or no colouration worth speaking of,and at a lower price the Mark Levinson 390s and most of the Wadia integrated player range.
Another very good combination is to use a good transport(such as a Theta David or similar and use a Perpetual Technologies P1A/P3A upsampler and DAc for decoding duties.....the sound quality is VERY close to that of the dCS but at a somewhat lower price.
I use a Linn CD player as a transport with the Perpetual Technologies processors and an Earmax headphone amp...very nice sound.

[marck]

Have you listened to the Audio Resolution Opus 21 - reviews are in the current hifi mags. It is £2850, but nothing below £5k touches it. It really is outstanding. I heard it using a Krell amp and Martin Logan speakers.

What about NAD C541i

[Matt Horne]

I bought a cd player for use with my stax headphones. (Nova Lamda classics I think).

I ended up getting a Arcam Alpha second hand (£50).. and it sounds wonderful. God those headphones are good !

OK maybe not completely helpful.. but the alpha was a £600 player which I think still competes with many of todays machines..so I would definitely look at the secondhand market as well as new!

I reckon the Arcam FMJ series would be up your street and worth a listen!

Matt

Apologies for the delay in replying to everyones suggestions. Crashed hard drive had to be replaced and then, to add insult to injury, I was one of the many unfortunate victims of the blaster worm. Bloody pain in the arse but everythings OK now.

Right, 'within reason' is about £1.5k which rules out the Naim. I hear good things (sorry) about Mark Levinson gear, anyone know if there's a dealer in or around Yorkshire? AR Opus sounds interesting, pushing my budget a bit but I'd be prepared to audition, but again I'd appreciate any info on a local dealer.

Thanks for the responses, and once again sorry for the delay in responding.

[NicolasB]

If you don't want to go quite as high as that, the Arcam FMJ CD23T or CD33 get quite good write-ups.

[marck]

Re, Audio Resolution Opus 21, give Acoustic Arts a call - 01923 245 250 - speak to Fraser or Kingsley.

If your budget is around £1.5k, you should audtiton the Copland 822 - it is an excellent machine. Again, Acoustic Arts stock Copland. I have heard this player using Krell and Copland amps, through Martin Logan and B&W speakers - very impressive at the price.

[domfjbrown]

Naim CD5
Shanling CD1 (I think - the funky looking one) - it's supposed to be good
Rega Jupiter
Higher end Rotel?