After long waits for software upgrades or whatever was holding them up, finally got my hands on one for a sale or return home audition. Why and I changing? I start here, because you need to ask yourself the same question. For me I have bought a power amp and needed a pre-amp. And my old CD player needs a new drawer belt. So the CDQ seemed an obvious choice from a limited choice of CD pre-amps. Only one if you want to preserve some analague inputs. THE TEST: Selected some of my most revealing CD Tracks - for soundstage, rythm, etc, ripped them into WAV and created two identical disks. Connected my old Marantz CD63 into one of the CDQ analogue ports and adjusted the input level trim until this gave identical volume levels. The remote for the CDQ and CD63 worked both players, so I could cue tracks at the same time and was able to switch back from one to the other with minimal disruption. Using a Quad 909 power amp, Chord interconnects and Diamond 9.1 speakers (yes I know, I am awaiting PMC TB2i's, but the Diamonds are pretty good) So what did I discover - In short, I could really barely tell any appreciable difference between them. I detected slight differences at times, then listened for that difference, convincing myself I had heard it only to find I was listening to the other one! I was actually never unhappy with the CD63 - it was just I was looking for a pre-amp anyway and would have spent £700 on a NAD, so another £214 to get the CD and a DAC seemed too good to miss. Some future proofing too if I want to go NAS etc later on. In terms of the rest of my ability to hear the differences, the QUAD 909 was a revelation over my Audiolab 8200A in terms of open-ness and clarity of sound. And I have heard huge differences between speakers. I have put lead in my speaker stands and re-made my speaker connections. These have made big improvements, so I am not insensitive to changes in quality. But between these two CD players, I could barely separate them - in fact in a blind test I bet I would not be able to pick one out over the other. Perhaps when I get the PMC TB2i's, more will be revealed. So do have a good listen before you shell out - the 8200CD may have had rave reviews, but IMHO, there are still some older players out there more than up for giving it a run for its money. Not to say its bad - far from it, just don't expect miracles if you already have a well regarded CD player.