CD AND DVD PLAYERS

Being square in the digital domain, advances here are coming at a furious pace and prices are dropping. A little Panasonic DVD player with 192kHz/24 bit upsampling DACs sounds awfully good. Don't pay attention to model names as product life span is fleeting, such is the pace of improvement.  In cd, dvd and bluray players, audio quality is just about the same in the digital domain.  The difference is in the analog outputs.  If you don't use analog, stick with a $100 player and know you are getting a digital input to your pre-pro or receiver as good as any $10,000 player can deliver.

PROCESSORS

Completely in the digital domain, processors can only go down in price and up in performance. Don't spend a lot up front unless you can afford it.

Bryston
Nobody has said anything sounds better than the SP1.7. Expensive. We sell it.

Outlaw
Good by all accounts and certainly great value. Buy it factory direct.

Anthem
Excellent by all accounts. Pretty expensive. Buy through their dealer base.