bro, it is hard to say whether ur system can match a 10k system or not
first, alot of variables and its not an apple to apple comparison
things like system matching, power factor
honestly, during midnight i use my good old senheisser headphones to listen to music
just plugged in either to the PC or CDP directly....still sound very good from both source
my PC is also plugged into the amplifier and same goes for my CDP.
but both deliver different SQ when going through my speakers
i'm also using quite ok sound card...ASUS Xonar STX
i would still rate my CDP sounding better
both using same interconnects and same length
both terminated with the same RCA jacks and with Furutech silver solder
one thing i hv noted though
i did a CD demagnetizing track by DENSEN
followed by deStat by Furutech...to discharge all the static around my hifi rig....sounds alot better....darker...cleaner
you indeed very serious in hifi.. and rich.. =P
the furutech destat cost a bomb to me..
but i had heard in hifi shop. and it really does the magic.. it is cleaner . much more cleaner imho.