[mattbr]

picked up my headmaster today. it got lost in the mail on its way to my friendly neighbourhood dope-pusher. took some time to listen to some sources as well. i'm a bit torn between getting a naim cd5, new, or a cdx, used, for an extra 10% and the risk of trusting an audiogon-er with no track record (the guy has a pretty kosher ebay feedback, though... and having a european version for sale just when i want one makes it just a bit too cliché...), or something else...
i auditionned the Sugden CDmaster, and failed to be impressed, again, given the price. and absolutely don't feel like taking the risk of waiting for it to burn-in. i've auditionned the classé cdp-1, which was in between the naims imho, the primare d30 (nice, failed to impress) as well as the audiomeca kheops and the lower-end one (the kheops was nice, maybe a bit too laid back and "precious" for my taste)...
any thoughts ?

 

[bifcake]

Have you listened to the Musical Fidelity A324 DAC? What do you think? How about the Moon Audio CD player or Krell?

 

[NewportGeek]

there's this company... called NAD... if you want killer sound on a budget, (<500) get the C541. 24bit dac (only 44.1 khz tho..)

still

had mine for a year, can't reccomend it enuf...

-JT

 

[andrzejpw]

I think he's a little past the 541.

 

[CRESCENDOPOWER]

If I owned the Sudgen Headmaster, I would look at Meridian for the good stuff, or NAD on a budget. But, who cares what I think. Your the one who has to decide, and you may hate what I like.

 

[markjia]

I've heard good things about the Meridian...

At this price level, be sure to audition the CD players before you buy. I don't know how rich you are, but this kind of money is not something I would just be playing around with, and wasting my money buying something I don't really love.