saxatilis, ewe can ameliorate what is prolly yust a typical case of digital nastiness by inserting an ase z-man, or a musical fidelity (x-10?) tubed buffer-stage between the nad & the marantz. this was the only way i could tolerate cd's, until i got a decent tube preamp. as these tings were only ~$200 brand-gnu, they're quite reasonable on the used market...
also, for those into jazz, latin, african, carribean music, i *highly* recommend a quality tuna, set to 89.3 - wpfw. i find that at least half my listening is now done w/the tuna as the source.
regards, doug s.