My Marantz CD6006 (UK edition) has been a bit of a dick lately, drawer refusing to open, opening and immediately closing, closing and immediately opening again, and now skipping like mad towards the end of discs.

So I'm going to take it to be repaired (probably Mike Powell at Bolton). I took it off the shelf, and just for the hell of it decided to put in my temperamental Densen Beat B-400 Plus. Which, for the moment, is surprising me by actually working

But what also surprised me was that I could hear no difference in sound between this and the Marantz player. The Densen retailed for £1400 in 2003 (about £2800 in today's money), compared to £350 for the Marantz. Don't get me wrong, I'm just glad the bloody thing is working, but surely that 8x the cost should bring some kind of improvement...

So when it comes to CD players, what does your extra outlay really get you?