hi Shooter.
unfortunatelly, I don't have a wide benchmark list to compare products but at least I know a good sounding piece of kit when I hear one. and such is Digit. I've had it for about 6 months. when I first plugged it in my first impression was so much more detail over TEAC's PDH600 and also it sounds much tighter but it also seemed like there was less bass. I was actually considering sending it back because I was affraid I would not be able to listen to poorly recorded CDs. but those CDs that were recorded well sounded soooo good so it stayed and I never regreted it. it also looks stunning in the living room and always brings ahhs and ohhs from visitors.
more about the bass. what I at first thought to be a bass shy presentation was wrong. this CDP is bassy if there's bass in the recording. if the recording is lean it will not create something out of nothing. it especially does extremely well in deep bass compartment. I don't know if you know the song "Sacrifice" from album Duality by Lisa Gerard. there is electronic bass line which at some point goes really deep and you know it has too sound really majestic. in my previous set up (TEAC Reference 600 + Dyns Focus 110) I've always felt like I need a sub to fully unleash this sound but now with all Pathos electonic I don't have such feeling anymore. even with such small speakers the bass is wall shaking when it calls to be so. some friends were convinced there's a sub in my living somewhere. also classical music sound as powerful as I want it to sound. it definitely is not what you will get sitting in concert hall but quite close (again; littel speakers). so, now I feel bass is definitely much more taunter, better controlled and faster. in fact the whole spectrum is faster.
another think which I like about this CDP is micro dynamics. this caused the soundstage to expand somewhere well beyond the front wall. there's so much more reverberation and decay down deep into the mix it easily creates 3D illusion. I just love listening to recordings with plenty of decay now. it sounds as if instruments or sounds were to wane forever. also positioning and separation between instruments is waaay better. it's definitely a keeper for me and I wasn't even for a brief moment considering a different CDP.
now the bad stuff. stock EH tubes should be replaced for something different. I can't give any recommendations now as I'm still in a process of experimenting with different brands and still haven't got my favourite. ergonomics; the 6 buttons are unlabelled (good aesthetical effect) but they are put in an unlogical order IMO. nothing not to get used to in time but I still sometimes confuse Standby with Open/Close buttons. warm up time; you need to wait some 30 mins every time you strart playing CDs to make it sound best. tubes need to warm up to desired temperature which takes some time. but when it's hot it sounds really smooth.
I don't really know if it's a bad thing but I put it here notheless. this CDP has a DVD drive so it works quite different from a CDP fitted with CD drive. it might cause some annoyance sometimes. when you load a disc it will start to play automatically. you can't choose a track beforehand. but the upside of this is that skip command works extremely fast (no lags, next track starts to play immediatelly) and you can load DVDs. you can literally listen to movies on DVDs
and also you can play DVD-Audio (however, I think this option is not officially supported but I managed to play a DVD-A once).
as for Pathos Endorphin. you might say that Digit is Endorphin with worse transport and power supply. guts, especially the analog output stage is the same (according to Pathos web site). however, Endorphin looks even more stunning IMO
as for digital ins. neither Endorphin nor Digit have them so if it's a crucial factor you should look elsewhere. however, I know that Pathos is working on a DAC unit. I don't know when it's to be released though. but I think this DAC together with say Musical Fidelity's M1 CDT on AES-EBU out would make a stunning CDP. maybe worth waiting for?...