New or Old CD Player?

@twoleftears WOW, indeed!

On the other hand, you do get a few upgrades for the additional $4000 Hegel charge for this player: a more sculpted faceplate with the three buttons on each side combined into one, a different digital out connection, and the Sony CD assembly.   Oh wait, that last one might be a downgrade.

Dont get me wrong, the CD120 Balanced put forth an excellent sonic presentation for its $1K price point.  Just that seeing them go for $300 would upset me had I just dropped $5K on the rebranded one.  Somehow, this company skates by this stuff, and their continued growth shows they know more than me

Of all the things in audio that are improving at a fast rate now, it's probably the DACs.  Your older CD players will have an older DAC chipset in them, so in my opinion, I'd go for "new" in finding a new CD player.

Sound advise

It sounds as if the CD player you bought was the one you had wanted to get all along??? judging from your original question. Good luck! ARC is a great HiFi company.