On Tue, 01 Sep 2009 11:34:08 +0100, Max Demian wrote:

A cheapy MP3 player connected via the headphone socket
to a hi-fi amp and speakers is almost as good as CD.

You have failed to consider the quality of the MP3 files themselves.

Files encoded at 320 kbps may sound near CD quality, but the usual
128 kbps most certainly will not.