good CD player with variable output?

The Mark Levinson 39 and its successor the 390s are fine players with analog volume controls. The 390s is more dynamic and colorful, but obviously costs more than a used 39. I recommend avoiding players with digital volume controls because they discard musical data when attenuating the volume. Good luck.

I just bought the SHANLING CD-T100 and hooked-it up directly to my power amp... Excellent sound... I am selling my pre-amp. Best of luck. Herve1

Audio Aero Capitole MK I or MK II.

wadias are good, but you need to make an internal adjustment to match their output to the input sensitivity of your amp. The digital volume control should indicate 75 or above to get the best fidelity. Any Wadia dealer can do this for you.

I guess when I meant "high-value", I meant more along the lines of "value for money", or "bang for the buck" Can't see myself putting $6k or more for an Audio Aero Capitole for the garage!

How about something under $1k new or used?

Any used Resolution Audio CD 50 or CD 55

I love the Theta Digital Miles. Especially the balanced version. Should be available for around $1200 used. Beware though, they are discontinued. Also, they use the discontinued Pioneer stable platter mechanism. All this aside they sound fantastic.

Check Upscaleaudio.com, and get an Ah! Tjoeb 4000. Transformed my system. $579.00 new. Lots of great tweaks and a clear upgrade path.

Why not just get a standard CD player and add Ric Schultz' EVS volume attenuators onto the inputs of your amp? I think the Nude Attenuators are only like $250 or so, and they sound great. Not for the lazy true, as you must walk over to the amp and adjust the volume by hand, but you claim to want good sound for minimal $$ and drive the amp direct, so this is a very good option for you. Team up with something like the Arcam Alpha 9 or a Bel Canto DAC1.1 with mass-market DVD player, and you'd have GREAT digital sound for around $1000.

believe it or not an old Adcom 575 has attenuators and can be had for less than $200. The sound is not bad.

Lolly's right, but EVS discontinued the Ultimate Attenuators recently. Great idea, as they eliminate a set of IC's, and allow for a very fine adjustment of input signal, and reduction of the amount of digital attenuation (for those of us with digital volume control cdps)for improved resolution. I spoke to him last week.Anyone know of something essentially equal?