[quote user="Wild Willy"][quote user="JohnDuncan"]And I think the best value is the Marantz, at £200 in Richer Sounds (retail is now £299).[/quote]
I think the Marantz sells for what it is worth in all fairness, you wouldn't find a C542 discounted to £200. It doesn't have a toroidal transformer, it doesn't have a 24bit DAC (Marantz themselves quote 'multibit' and several dealers incorrectly quote 24bit) and it doesn't play HDCDs. Oh and the treble is a bit bright. However, there is nothing at £200 or thereabouts to beat it, so long as you have a warm amp or warm speakers to combat the treble. IMO of course
*I really rate the Marantz, it's just that the C542 is better. There isn't much to rival the C542 without spending £600+[/quote]I have to second this, i've not heard that many other players about the same price range, but as i said in another thread, i was surprised how the Naim cd5i wasn't as much better than the nad than i expected and thats an £850 player (or maybe its my dodgy ears!)