The XCD-88 particularly - used. I have two. Swapped the opamps (any iddiot can do it) and if you shop a bit you have a killer CD player for around $200 - $250. Good unit even unmodded. A Music Hall/Shanling copy. If you want SACD etc. go with Oppo. What a bargain.

That is a great deal - about half the going rate. I ran into a 2nd Chance offering just this week on eBay. Great feature. I 'accidentally' got to win an item for much less than the user had 'asked'. Thanks for the update.

...and are there any left? I have money in my wallet - which is just so wrong around head-fi.

Whatever you are doing wrong, I am doing too. Or, they are gone from the sites.

For the price point, this player is an excellent value. You will have to spend some bucks to buy an amp and phones/speakers that will not be bested by this source. For redbook, you can do better for the same money, but not by much. As for as the avowed sloppiness, I haven't found it...

Has anyone tried the 650 cable on the 600's? The general consensus seems to be that it appears to be quite different sonically from the 600 cable. ...my wallet is always is always looking for a cheap upgrade path - and I just can't spend $200 on the Zu when I spent only $200+ on my...

If you like the First Ultimate, but want to spend less to get it, these cables have a similar signature. I like them - and really like the price.

you will be listening to your very nice solid-state amp, and you will think "I wonder what the fuss is about tubes." It happened to me; it can happen to you.

and got every one of my thoughts alread, here's one more for classical: Toccata & Fugue in D Minor - J. S. Bach. ...added benefit: it was written for bassheads. Make that amp draw current; induce a voltage drop in the neighborhood. "Turn up the volume rip off the knobs."

I have not tried this yet, because I haven't finished the prep for th HT stuff, but I read a compelling article on using heavy gaage house wiring, rather than inexpensive heavy gauge speaker wiring - based on less capacitance due to the wire spacing and soem other stuff I forget. The argument...

OKOKOK So, I have bought used equipment from fellow head-fi'ers, and every time I have gotten something, especially cables, I have cleaned it religiously. It never occurred to me that new stuff should be cleaned. DUH! The one penny of 100% isopropyl alcohol did wonders. Just...

The Mall-Fi forum has enough stuff from tangent to get you started on the Meta 42. Do a search on CMOY. It's an amp designed by Mr. Moy of this board. Lotsa folks here will build one of these for you for a price.

I will second the recommendation of the old Marantz gear. They are old, and to some, ugly, but the headphone output of them is not the crap that current equipment uses. The headphone out was stepped down output from the same circuit that drove the speakers. In terms of bang for buck, this...

but I have never read an unfavorable comparison of the Music Hall against the Cambridge. The Cambridge is a fine unit. I have not head the Music Hall, which is a re-branded Chinese unit with a Music Hall warranty. It plays HDCD which the Cambridge does not. If I found a good deal on a used...

I already agreed with you on the Music Hall. I heartily agree on the Philips, too. Probably my next new source, unless a new giant-killer comes out in the meantime. Now, back to the question of the amp....