If you want to have quality sound for competition, the empeg will eventually be able to play wav files-which are the same as cd quality.
Except, as Doug Burnside (who competes in these competitions) pointed out, you have to use the judge's CD, not your own CD or some other files. This is understandable, since it would be possible to cheat if you didn't.
The empeg, although designed as a stand alone product, has perfectly good support for chaining in with other audio products via its AUX input, which is why some owners are choosing to integrate it with their existing CD players. Honestly, I don't see a problem with its current inputs and outputs.
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Tony Fabris