I have a conundrum!

[Ampboy23]

Last week I got to listern to a Shanling CDT 100 valve output CD Player and having no willpower, I bought it!

Taking it home and putting it in my Cyrus system, I'm not sure it beats my Dad3Q24 which is now a fairly ancient peice of kit. On specification and price the new(ish) Shanling should blow the Cyrus player out of the water, but the presentation of each player is very different and to be honest I'm finding it hard to adjust to this.

I am asking myself the following questions and would welcome some input from others:-

The Shanling is 4 years old and the valves have not been changed - will performance have taken a dip due to old valves?

The Dad3Q24 is a Cyrus product and therefore well matched to my Cyrus pre amp and mono'd power amps. But as I will be looking at building a Kel84 in the new year, should I persevere with Shanling on the basis that it may be a better match with new valve amp setup?

I have built myself some Fostex horns and I can see future without 6 Cyrus boxes providing the amplification...but I am scared of getting rid of kit that has served well, especially the Dad CD player.

I'm sure these are classic upgrade dilemas - but I have never had to face them before and it is quite troubling!!!

Any thoughts would be welcomed.