help a Die hard ANALOG guy choose a budget CDP

I had a friend over to listen who is solely a digital guy. He uses a Marantz SA11/3, which of course is up near $4000. I hope I have the model correct, but I believe the latest iteration SA11….His friend uses a Dac from a well respected manufacturer, which is in the $2000 range.  I don't want to mention the name, because I didn't officially get the green light to share this on a forum. Anyway, this guy with the Dac has an SA 8005. He says the Dac is better than the SA8005 alone, but not much better. I have no idea what this guys system is like, but with north of $3k in digital, I figure it must be pretty good. 

"Sorry, I talk too much about SACD players but there is a Lot of excellent SACDs in classical music these days, and the prices are lower than hi-def downloads"

So, Sevs, what are you using to play SACDs? I thought the Naims were redbook only?

Has anyone had a chance to compare the Marantz SA 8005 and the UD 7007 for audio quality? Intuitively, you'd expect the 8005 to win as none of the cost is 'wasted' on blu-ray or DVD; but the 7007 seems to have better S/N and dynamic range specs.

Very happy with my Cambridge 851C. It is so close to my table, I use it more often unless I'm in the mood to go through the process of spinning vinyl. It's not a forgiving player, so if the quality of the recording is poor it's not going to fudge things. The previous 840C is a little more forgiving and still a fine player, but it's not as refined as the newer player. I am running SR Black fuses in my 851C which brought it to another level, but even with the stock fuses it's still an outstanding player. As with any of these better to players, they require proper cables to bring out the best they have to offer so be prepared to spend a little extra to get there. Very versatile player, with a strong DAC and preamp if you ever want to use it with a NAS, computer or feed an amp directly.

2channel8: I have CDS3 for CDs and Wadia for SACDs, for the last few months I am torturing myself trying to choose which one to keep and cannot choose! Keeping both, feel real stupid about this.