Todd, I dislike the redbook playback of my Pioneer 563. After I had my 563 for a while, I took it over to my buddy's place (who I had talked into getting Axiom M80s, btw), plugged it in, and compared it to his NAD 542. We thought the NAD was superior. Soundstage was more precise, less muddy, with detailed highs, not the grainy highs from the pioneer (forgive the adjectives). The Pioneer seemed to mush everything together and this was easy for us to hear. Incidentally, I had a Technics changer that was five years older than the Pioneer which I thought sounded better in many areas.
Later, I got a Njoe Tjoeb and while this proved an even better improvement over my buddy's NAD, I did not feel it was worth the price and posted those thoughts here. I was then insulted for my gullibility or to put it another way, my personal choice how to spend my disposable income. ??? Good to see no one has told you that you have tin ears. Even if you did, it wouldn't matter. What I am getting at is, just listen to what you like and be happy you have determined that you made the right choice...for you. I'm still enjoying the Njoe Tjoeb and have reconsidered selling.
My vinyl beats all though in all areas. Even shopping for music. I wouldn't trade my afternoons rummaging crates for lps for all the money in the world.
