The Audionote is the one of best sounding least fatiging cd player that I have owned. It has a sound that far from congested and lacking detail. The blackness and quiet of the "background" is amazing. Sound stage is open and airy, among the most interesting in terms of size which seems HUGE.
I have used Proac speakers along with Sonic Frontiers tube gear, and the ANCD2 complements this system nicely. I have read the other reviews here and the negative ones are puzzling. I feel the output tube may be to blame or some other QC problem. My player is very nice and have not one regret purchasing.

I actually bought mine at Sound By Singer and had no problems in fact I made my purcahse based on a weekend trial of the Audionote vs, the CAL cd15. The kind gentleman there Ken arranged a borrow on both pieces and did'nt even charge my credit card! Just kept the #'s on it just incase. Oh well, you gotta know what you are looking for and listening to when buying.I'm arranging my next purchase of Audio Physics Virgos from Sound by Singer also next weekend. They are fabulous sounding speakers! I also like the Steen's (great for the money) and check out the Hales there too. The Hales looked promising at first but are not in the same league as Audio Physics or for that matter Proac. Hales seems like they try hard but always come up short. I once listen to a pair two years ago at another NYC dealer and they were just plain bright and boomy. Bought my Proacs that same day.

I use the new a bit overpriced player from Audionote. I had a Micromega Stage 3 and the mids are very mch alike, the Audionote has deeper bass. Treble is good with total lack of brightness. Agree with alan review except the huge soundstaging part, feeling the Audionote leaves the recording as is. Don't think it's worth 2K, maybe 1500 or nothing fancy about the looks, but I guess the sound is one of best you can get at the price. I got mine in NYC and the other comparision player was the Sonic Frontiers which might have been better but I'n notsure on short evalution. Four stars for build, five for sound.

I have had the AN CD-2 for about a year and a half and find the reviews with 5***** to be on the money sonically. I have had other "high end" digital gear including top of the line CAL, and Meridian separates. None of them do justice to the sound as my AN does.
I have had no problems with the unit and consider the build quality to be acceptable.

FYI, I have replaced the original tube with a Telefunken NOS and it made about a 10% difference. I also added a ByBee Quantum Line Filter which was about a 15% improvement.

Why the unit isn't more popular is anybody's guess !?!?!?

it would be better to buy a meridian or naim player and use a tube preamp than the audio note