dunno why so many people are crasy about the marantz cdp if you need to change the inside to have it to sound good :P . I auditioned the 17mkII and found personnaly it sucks big time. lifeless vocals and everything damn slow. not suitable for jazz or classical, imo, so forget about rock& techno punchy stuffs. I dunt say anything about other models mentioned as the ratio sound for price might be totaly different.