Price Paid:  $1500.00 from AudioAdvisor

Summary:
This CD player is much better than Creek's CD 43 Mk2, which is a nice player in its own right. The build quality is noticeably better with a stronger CD tray. The 50 is slightly heavier and larger, as well it should be with all the isolated stages and circuits inside. The Creek CD43 Mk2 was known for ample, tight bass and a well-defined sound stage. The CD50 Mk2 is all that and much more. It has such exquisite detail, enough to shock you on many recordings. I can hear small noises people talking in the background of recordings and small noises like telephones ringing in another room. Extremely soft instruments can be heard, which is quite a treat on complex passages of music where so much of the music is revealed for you. I have found the sound stage is as precise as your associated equipment will allow. For the price, I am very pleased. It is amazing what this CD player will glean from a CD.

However, this is still digital music. I am spoiled by my turntable, a VPI Scout with a Benz Glider cart. The Creek still sounds like sampled music compared to the extremely complete and full sound of a good vinyl player. The Creek is extremely good for a digital player , but it is still digital. The Creek does have its advantages over my turntable, in that I don't have to clean a CD on the record vacuum every time I want to listen to a CD. Scratchy CDs don't sound like scratchy records either. So there is less overhead involved when listening to CDs and it facilitates more casual listening.

I know there are better CD players out there, but not for $1,500. I would bet that this player has better detail, sound staging, depth, and dynamics than any other player at this price point.

Strengths:
Detail, sound stage, imaging, depth and dynamics.

Weaknesses:
It's still digital and if you have a good turntable, you will always know that it is the second best sounding source in your house.

Price Paid:  $1345.00 from Verastarr

Summary:
This is a follow up to my first review of this CD player. The only qualm I had initially was vibration coming from the spin speed of the CD Rom drive that Creek is using now. There is a firmware upgrade that is accomplished by downloading a file, adding 40 mb of dummy files, burning a disc and playing it on the player. The difference is staggering...no vibration at all since the cd's are spinning at half the speed they used to. The soundstage has increased and so has definition in the upper register. I use a grunge mat from Herbie's and it does help in this player. This has solved the one qualm I had about this player. I use an aftermarket power cord and silver interconnects which work with my Marantz Receiver and B&W speakers.

Strengths:
Musicality and sound

Weaknesses:
None that I can think of.

Similar Products Used:
Pioneer, Adcom, Marantz

Price Paid:  $1345.00 from Verastarr

Summary:
This is a fantastic CD player, very musical and I am very pleased with it. I just wish it didn't seem so flimsy. The CD drawer moves quietly but not silently. And you can feel some vibration of the mechanism if you put your hand on top of the player. I've never experienced that before. Because of the superlative electronics, there is no jitter heard however. It's very light for the price. The remote could have been aluminum like the face plate, but it's cheap plastic. However, it blows away any other CD Player I've had. Marantz, Adcom, Pioneer...Creek beats them all. It sounds much better with a new power cable and high end interconnects. I'm using silver BMC Peaks on it and it's a thrill to hear so much of the music. Cd's sound as good as SACD's in 2 channel that I play through my Marantz DV8400...actually I think they sound a bit better.

Strengths:
Sound, Sound, Sound.

Weaknesses:
cheesy remote; vibration you can feel through the top of the player but only if you put your hand on it...Drawer is less impressive than I'd like.

Similar Products Used:
Adcom, Marantz, Pioneer