Dedicated Red Book CD player vs. "Universal" type players....

I had an 8005 in my system this Summer for 2 weeks, sold it and purchased a McIntosh.  I didn't like the very small buttons on the player and the controls felt cheap to me.  The sound was fine but I wanted a McIntosh to match the rest of the system.

May I ask which McIntosh player you purchased?  Did you purchase it brand new? 

"Does a one-box solution sacrifice some cd playback performance trying to be a jack of all trades? If so, can you hear that difference? Input and comments most appreciated!" 

Glad you got the Marantz, but yes, "jack of all trades" Oppo will get you ok performance for A/V, but not great performance from any one thing that Oppo does. I've lived and learned this. dedicated CDPs are best, b/c they specialize in their one goal: Audio and support it with better/more appropriate audio hardware. 

The Esoteric Universal is several thousand more$$ than the Oppo, so not a realistic comparison. The Esoteric Universal sounds great b/c they put better hardware in one package than the Oppo, and this costs much more$. 

The Mohican is $4000, so again, not the fairest comparison to either Oppo or the Marantz or even another $1k dedicated CDP. 

And again, the Marantz 8005 is chump change $$ compared to a McIntosh, so its not a fair comparison. 

Check out James Tanner's various pronouncements on the design parameters of Bryston BCD-3 over on AudioCircle.  They eschewed a digital in, SACD capability, etc. etc., in order get Red Book as good as possible, which according to them isn't possible when you have to make other accommodations.  If straight-up CD is your thing, the Bryston and the Mohican look like very strong recommendations to me.

@twoleftears I agree. I'm particularly interested in the Mohican (as in "The Last of the Mohicans") but the OP hasn't indicated a budget, though he references interest around the $1000 price point, eg Oppo, and the Marantz 8005 he bought which I think is under a grand.