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<blockquote data-quote="Babs" data-source="post: 2884043" data-attributes="member: 567066">I hear you.. I agree with the limited choices... The head units are all bling bling and the latest and greatest.. I just want an excellent music-format (cd, etc) player that has phenominal dac&#039;s, an excellent preamp (only), and all audiophile grade overbuilt internals.&nbsp; Since there&#039;s only 1% of 1% of the buyers that are into this level of head unit, or could afford it, there&#039;s not much left.In my opinion, the DRZ9255 is the ONLY current-production SQ head unit on the market that&#039;s even reasonably priced.. The p9 is about the only other option.. If you&#039;re willing to sacrifice a bit of build/design quality for budget, the premier 880 is popular around here (an older premier unit that&#039;s hung on because it had the &quot;right&quot; DA converters, x-over and time alignment features).&nbsp; The current Eclipse 7100 looks promising, but can&#039;t speak for construction.&nbsp; The 9255 strikes me as the last of a breed.&nbsp; The Krell of head units.&nbsp; Old school build, no flash, no silly graphics, just excellent dac&#039;s and some modern time-alignment and x-overs built-in.. If it did all the newer formats plus CD, I would look no further.Unfortunately, Alpine saves it&#039;s highest end HU for an All in one that&#039;s $3G.Vent here:&nbsp; And why can&#039;t the aftermarket HU&#039;s just simply operate with clean clear buttons like a normal freakin&#039; stereo.. Why all the tiny buttons with proprietary anachronyms that require a freakin&#039; manual.&nbsp; That&#039;s another thing about the 9255.. The design attempts to at least try to be normal, like an OEM.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Babs, post: 2884043, member: 567066"] I hear you.. I agree with the limited choices... The head units are all bling bling and the latest and greatest.. I just want an excellent music-format (cd, etc) player that has phenominal dac's, an excellent preamp (only), and all audiophile grade overbuilt internals. Since there's only 1% of 1% of the buyers that are into this level of head unit, or could afford it, there's not much left. In my opinion, the DRZ9255 is the ONLY current-production SQ head unit on the market that's even reasonably priced.. The p9 is about the only other option.. If you're willing to sacrifice a bit of build/design quality for budget, the premier 880 is popular around here (an older premier unit that's hung on because it had the "right" DA converters, x-over and time alignment features). The current Eclipse 7100 looks promising, but can't speak for construction. The 9255 strikes me as the last of a breed. The Krell of head units. Old school build, no flash, no silly graphics, just excellent dac's and some modern time-alignment and x-overs built-in.. If it did all the newer formats plus CD, I would look no further. Unfortunately, Alpine saves it's highest end HU for an All in one that's $3G. Vent here: And why can't the aftermarket HU's just simply operate with clean clear buttons like a normal freakin' stereo.. Why all the tiny buttons with proprietary anachronyms that require a freakin' manual. That's another thing about the 9255.. The design attempts to at least try to be normal, like an OEM. [/QUOTE]

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