Price Paid:  $1000.00 from Auction

Summary:
OK, Been listening to this KAV-300CD for about a week now. Old player was a Sony CDP-XA20ES. I can certainly see how some of the reviews in here complain about the brightness of this player. We'll it is bright. Much brighter than my Sony. However, the bass, clarity, and soundstage make the Sony look like garbage. Im amazed at how good this player sounds. The brightness on my system i believe is due to a interconnect mismatch. I went to Audioquest Caldera's biwired and im very happy with those. My interconnects are Nordost Blue Heaven 1 pair RCA and 1 Pair XLR. Being silver plated OFC is probably where my brightness is comeing from. Once i go to Audioquest Python's XLR for my interconnects i'm sure my brightness will disapate. I also agree with the remote comments. What a piece of crap from Krell. The remote for my KRC-2 is solid bilet aluminum. Dont know what their reasoning is. You'd figure for an MSRP of $4200 you could get a decent remote. Oh well... in short this player is awesome. My componants are as follows. Krell KSA-150 Krell KRC-2 Krell KAV-300CD Infinity Kappa 7.1 series 2 Audioquest Caldera Bi-wired Nordost BlueHeaven interconnects

Strengths:
Fantastic Bass, Soundstage, and Clarity.

Weaknesses:
Crappy Remote Might be to Bright for some

Similar Products Used:
Sony CDP-XA20ES

Price Paid:  $1500.00 from Heatherdale Audio

Summary:
Looking for a quality player I auditioned Musical Fidelity's Nu Vista M3CD and Pink Triangle's latest but they were a bit dear new and I missed used deals . Having read good reviews on the Krell I searched for a bargain and found one like new . I got it mail order unheard and am happily impressed . Not harsh at all . Great bass and mid/high clarity . Voices are clear and in quiter vocal music I can literally hear the words being formed by lips and tongue and the singer breathing . Loud hard rock or quiet female vocal the Krell is sorted . I use Pink Triangle Integral and Celestion A3s and balanced connection .

Strengths:
Strong controlled bass , clarity and definition throughout . Well built .

Weaknesses:
None at the price .

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
Having owned Krell equipment for a long time, I was looking forward to this CD player to be a simply perfect performer. It is not. The mids and high end tend toward being harsh. The bass is not typically powerful Krell bass. The HDCD capabaility is a nice plus, but there are very few of these discs available. Somewhat dissapointing.

Strengths:
HDCD capable. Well built. Reliable TEAC transport.

Weaknesses:
Lousy cheap remote. Harsh sound.

Price Paid:  $2500.00 from Esoterisk HiFi-Swede

Summary:
This is just a wonderful cd-player. No matter what kind of music you like, this player will handle it. Compared to the new KAV 280cd, the KAV 300cd sound more alive. More open treble, the mids are more natural and the bass has more slam. The KAV 280cd is not a bad player by far, but the KAV 300cd is closer to the Krell Class A series. If you find this player; buy it. If you already have the Krell KAV 300cd; DON´T SELL IT!!!!! Some of my system: Balanced Audio Technology VK60 Krell KAV 300CD MIT Terminator2 Biwire Harmonic Technology Truth-Link RCA Klipsch Reference speakers The future preamp will is the BAT VK30, and the Klipsch speakers will change for the much better Audio Physic Virgo III.

Strengths:
Extreme good mids. Grinds out the deepest bass on your cd´s. Open and great 3D. Plays HDCD. Looks great. It´s a Krell!!!

Weaknesses:
Nothing!

Price Paid:  $1200.00 from Audiogon.com

Summary:
Lovely sound. Very good-excellent discs come alive. Got it used/mint on Audiogon. Most prominant upgrade to the system. Useing with KAV-300i. Used with Hafler amp/preamp before for a short time. With Vandersteen 2Ce speakers. Sounded great with the old amps. Sounds great with the 300i I just got used. Important: Use the balanced XLR interconnects with the 300i! Highs seemed rolled off a bit with unbalanced inputs to 300i, maybe due to hi impedance input. Make your own balanced jumpers, from mike cable if you cannot buy easily.

Strengths:
High end: NOT bright as others have said.May be due to Vandersteens reputed laid back highs-good match. But still makes cymbals sound like unique metal objects, not synthesized effects. Great ambience and imaging. Now can hear what "depth" is! HDCD ability, if you can find any discs. Might make you reconsider one of those under 1000$ players, since you can get a used 300 for nearly that. Will blow them away. Avoid the KAV 250CD. Bad rep. for malfunctions.

Weaknesses:
Bulky-19 inches wide, requires at least same shelf depth. Don't understand sqauk about cleaning in review below.

Similar Products Used:
Sony ES, Magnavox(highly tweeked) Parasound(uggh)