I bought my Classe CDP.5 after auditoning the Theta Miles and the CAL CL-15.I ended up buying the CAL CL-15 because of the price and I liked it but it did not measure up to my friends Classe CDP.5. The build quality is excellent and so I sold my CAL-15 and bought a CDP.5 on the used market. When I received it via UPS it was damaged (on-off switch broken}. I called Classe's customer service and was amazed that there is a (5) year warranty on all Classe products and that they would fix it free of charge. I was truly impressed with Classe products so a bought a Classe CA-100 amp and matching pre-amp CP-35 and have never been happier. I will be a Classe owner for ever, quality and service mean a alot to me and knowing this company is here to stay!

Some of the reviews posted at this site describe the CDP-.5 as being ideal for classical but not rock, bland, weak in dynamics, possessing mediocre pace and rhythm, boring, soundstage average, localization good but depth lacking, etc., etc. In my experience with a recently purchased CDP-.5 I found none of these things. In the case of those who claim to have had bad experiences with this player, maybe the problem is with the choice of associated components, including interconnecting cables. There is also the issue of burn-in time. Those who have criticized the CDP-.5 do not give details of their system. In this regard, how much faith can we place in the competence of their reviews ?
The manufacturer claims that sonic performance will vary widely according to the quality of the cables used with the CDP-.5 and also recommends use of the highest quality interconnecting cables for optimum performance. A 300-hour burn-in time is also required. I placed a CD in the player and put it on repeat play to run day and night.
My experience with the CDP-.5 so far has been that of "garbage in/garbage out." While this player might improve a bad or harsh recording, it cannot make it sound great. On the other hand, good CDs sound even better. Thus far, my opinion of this player is that the sound is rich, smooth, and detailed. Image depth and soundstage are very good. On classical and contemporary jazz CDs, instrumental timbre is awesome, especially piano.
Recordings by one of my favorite jazz pianists, Bob Mamet sounded out of this world, especially his HDCD recording, " Adventures in Jazz." One problem I encountered with this particular CD was that it froze on a couple of tracks when they were selected directly. The CDP-.5 gave an "error" message in its display. I hope this is a problem with the CD and not the player. On a number of familiar CDs, I've discovered subtle percussive sounds previously unheard on the California Audio Labs Icon MKI which the Classe replaced.
A very slight upper midrange and treble grain I encountered was eliminated with a switch from AudioTruth Emerald (functionally perfect copper) interconnects to AudioTruth Lapis (pure silver) interconnects between the CDP-.5 and my pre-amp. This underscores the manufacturer's recommendation to use the highest possible quality cables. If you use crappy cables, the CDP-.5 will reveal this and you will have crappy sound.
One additional plus in the Classe's favor is in its non-production of digital interference. My old CAL Icon produced electrical interference (hash) that showed up on TVs at my house as herringbone patterns anytime the player was turned on. My A.C. line conditioner could only partially ameliorate these nasties. Even worse, the Pioneer laserdisc/CD combi player I use in my home theater system can almost completely obliterate the picture when a TV is tuned to any of the lower VHF broadcast channels. The CDP-.5 is designed so that it can be left powered all the time with the flick of a rear panel power switch, which is the way I have left it. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the CDP-.5 produced no detectable interference with the power on. I am very pleased with the performance of this player.
Any criticisms I have, have nothing to do with the sound of the player. With the CAL Icon, the time display mode could be set to diplay remaining time on an entire CD or single track. To me, remaing time is more useful than elapsed time, unless one can memorize the length of every track. The Classe should have this option of displaying remaining time.
The solid brushed aluminum remote while nice, is too heavy and unwieldy. I had to buy and stick felt pads on the underside to soften its impact (thud) whenever I put it down. I keep having to be extra careful that I don't drop it, especially on a nearby glass coffee table.
My associated components are as follows: B&K MC-101 pre-amp, Classe CA-300 power amp, Mission 765i floor standing tower speakers on spikes, AudioTruth Lapis interconnecting cables between CD player/pre-amp and pre-amp/power amp, AudioQuest Indigo (second generation) speaker cables terminated with KimberKable Postman spade connectors, Chang Lightspeed A.C. line conditioner, dedicated 15 A 120 V A.C. isolated ground branch circuit.

I bought the classe 4 months ago, and i'm in love with it.good bass, clean sound, well built, HDCD compatible.
At 2700,00$ (can), the cdp.5 is a serious competitor.