What is the affect of cd player?

I like Blindjim's post. In my own system, the analog and digital sources represent the most expensive components by a clear margin but not an overwhelming one. That's just the way it worked out, but I do recall listening with less good sources in the system at times. It was easy to hear their deficiencies.

If you want to know if source improvements will make a difference, try Blindjim's suggestion and swap in a new power cord, some good footers ( try Herbie's Audio Lab ) or an isolation transformer. You can use these items on a new player if and when you get one, or resell without losing much if they turn out to have no effect. IME, though, they do work, and well enough to be considered indispensable.

Here's what I have learned from my experience; if you know what you are looking for, you'll know it when you hear it. That's how it worked for me.
When I listened to my current cdp a few years ago it was a revelation as to just how good cds can sound. That hasn't stopped me from looking for better but through numerous players of various types I haven't found one that beats my old Resolution Audio CD-50. Same applies to my current speakers. Numerous, more expensive contenders have come and gone but none allow me to relax into the music the way the Kestrel HRs do.
Good luck with your search.

You can have a great source (upstream) and a downstream that isn't it's equal and you won't know how good the source is or how poor the downstream is. You can't have a great downstream and a poor source, it's short comings will be evident immediately so I think you should stay downstream until you find the Cambridge isn't doing the job, you'll know when the time has come!!!

Ill take great speakers in an average system..all day long..

I should note that I bought a Cambridge 840C, and I found it to be very sensitive to interconnects. The ICs my previous CDP favored were crap with the Cambridge, I mean really bad. Tried something else, and it improved dramatically, went from "guess I'm gonna sell this thing" to "Damn! It's a keeper".

So as somebody mentioned you could try playing with interconnects first. I found success with Zu Varial XLRs, others have reported good results with Cardas Golden Reference, and Mapleshade ribbons. The one my Cambridge hated was Cardas Neutral Reference.