Price Paid:  $140.00 from B&H Photo

Summary:
The JVC Z700 is has many excellent qualities and features, appears to be very well made, and is fairly priced. However, according to my own listening preferences, I have decided to continue my search for a more musical sounding and less psycho-acoustically fatiguing CD player.

Strengths:
Very low distortion. Excellent stereo imaging & apparently low jitter. Excellent detail, even for critical headphone listening. Changer can handle 7 CDs, which is nice.

Weaknesses:
No headphone jack! The JVC Z700 is comparitively lacking in the rendering of the lower half of the spectrum. When I first heard it on my Tannoy monitors, I thought it sounded 'brittle' and when I A-B tested my old Sony CD-50 against the JVC, I was astonished at the difference, how much 'fuller' and 'forward' the low end was on the Sony. Even though the JVC had the edge with regard to lower distortion at the high end and slightly better stereo imaging, it was clearly lacking the low end punch and the subjectively pleasing musical warmth of the Sony.