Congrats on the Hegel, I have enjoyed mine for many months and it sounds great with my Focal Sopra No.2's. It will take some time to break in and open up. You will notice the difference when you hit about 30 hours and it will keep getting better for a while. Also the Hegels (I have 2) really sing when they are warm and have been running at a decent volume for 30 minutes.
I have a few CD players, my most cost effective one, Marantz CD 5004, $350.00 new, gives my Reference CD player a real run for the money. The Marantz was my original CD player, when I got into this crazy fun hobby. I am glad I never sold it. It's not as good as my reference CD player but it is about 85% as good and really inexpensive. May not be what you are looking for, but at its low cost, you could spend more on nice cables. Also you can use the Marantz as a transport with the Hegel DAC.
The Hegel is exactly as you described, and very musical (engaging).
My Silnote cables are good band for the buck, sound very open, transparent, plenty of bottom and highs are very smooth. Also speed is strong no smearing, great soundstage, wide and deep. The brand is not common like Nordost, but it sounds every bit as good to me. I have met the owner/product engineer and he is very passionate about his products. The speaker cables showed very well at the recent AXPONA
In Chicago.