there is much early digital gear being hawked at vastly inflated prices. As an example of this, I would mention the Sony CDP-101, which seems to be undergoing something of a renaissance/revisionist reappraisal.
I think that this is mainly on the basis of a supposedly cost-no-object build and material content, because it surely isn't based on it's sound quality, performance or reliability.
Having owned one from new I can attest to the fact that it was built like a tank, and is stuffed full of components but I think that this is because they simply didn't have the means to build it any other way.
The reliability of the player was beyond a joke, disc tracking performance was totally apalling by modern standards, and the sound was cold and steely. What do you expect with a single mono DAC shared between channels?. Those hyping this device would contend that it has all been downhill since then, and that it's performance rivals or betters modern equipment... utter, utter tosh I say!.
There is one on ebay at the moment for $799... complete madness!. I think that audiophiles are elitest in nature, and that obscurity/rarity or unavailability quickly leads to building of a cult with it's own mythology. It is lack of supply rather than merit that drives prices up in many cases, combined by word of mouth hype being accepted without first-hand experience.
Cheers,
Alex
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