the best CD player between 6'000 - 10'000 $ ?

Clavil,
Now that is an excellent question! I still have an 11y old Jadis JD3 (one box cdp without tubes) in the second system. This player kept the edge over the likes of Burmester 001, Accuphase DP-78 and DCS P8i when I started auditioning for a new player two years ago because of its beautiful musicality. Eventually - and unquestionably - it had to show the white flag when compared to the AMR CD-77 that I have in the first system since last year.
I have never looked back after the AMR, but all the time I had been auditioning, I much regretted not to be able to hear the new Jadis JD2 Tube or the Jadis JD2 Pro drive + JS2 MkII DAC (sadly > EUR 10k and not within my budget at the time, so I have abstained from asking the distributor). These new machines are technically very much alike the JD1.
Meanwhile, there is the more affordable Jadis Symphonia Evolution Tube (EUR 5,200 over here). Again, I haven't heard this myself (yet), but by all means I can only encourage you to include this on your list of machines you want to hear.
Good luck

hi karelfd:

are you aware of a cd player that is more colored, i.e., more euphonic than the amr 77, for less money ?

thanks

3 players i've been looking at recently to replace my meridian G08: the meridian 808, emm labs CDSA SE, Cary 306 sacd Pro (hard to find used though).

I've checked out the Cary 306 SACD Pro and Esoteric X-03se. Both are exceptional in terms of staging, detail and warmth. I ended up getting the Esoteric and love it. Rest of my system is ARC VT100Mk3, LS16Mk2 and AP Virgo3. Interestingly, I've heard a lot of comments about the Virgos being bright and sterile and some about the X-03se being bright. I find the opposite. But it just reinforces how important it is to match your components.

But it just reinforces how important it is to match your components.

so making it (too?) simple, the first step of a searching process could be:

with a solid state preamp-amp- speaker analitical / bright combination, look for tube CD or "warm" players (AMR 77, Jadis, AR ref 7 ...)

with a tube preamp-amp-speaker combination, look for something with high resolution and analitical

wrong?