One of the things that fascinates me about this hobby is how ubiquitous it is.
I purchased a Musical Fidelity A5 disc spinner early 2016. My impression with limited experience with CD players was it was good but had a deal breaker flaw. It had a lighter, leaner lower mid-range which seems somewhat similar to some of the recent opinions of the LTA gear.
With a lot of Herbie's isolation products, along with excellent additional advice on DIY efforts (I'm not referring to parts upgrade, which I never learned enough about to venture into that realm) the player truly is balanced from top to bottom with excellent richness.
The final piece which took it from frustratingly close to a proper musical piece for me was with the addition of their tiny CD mat. No give and take which was my experience with another mat, only give what was still needed.
Of course my efforts with this player would not exactly coincide with amplification. However, so much can be done for equipment just in the areas of isolation, acoustics, tube rolling, and if you have the skill, part upgrades, etc.
So much to consider when we evaluate the many forks in the audio road.
LP