What are the best CD Player around $3500?

out of all the players in the 1000.00 to 5000.00 range, WADIA is by far my favorite, super smooth 4 volt output on the RCA's vs. the standard 2 volt machines, built way beyond what you could imagine for a cd deck to be, and it is the fullest body sounding unit with the most real sound stage, okay the soundstage is not real it actually sounds double the size it should be, my room went from 8 ft to 20 ft ceilings :)... and truth is I turn on my turntable and can't believe it could get better, but then the wadia warms up after about an hour of use and it is astonishing at how truly analog it sounds but with more weight and of course Bass is top dog out of the wadia but anyone will tell you that, but they are very powerfull sounding CD players, very open and very in your face, most dvd players sound a little rolled off and like you are in the 12th row, but the Wadia is very upfront, like you are standing on stage, could be good for some, could be bad for others, its all in your taste but mine is perfect for me, and It replaced a 3000.00 dollar universal, Yep SACD and all but the Wadia stomped it, I left SACD since and have completly invested in Redbook and Vinyl ...

So for me the beatles and like zeppelin on vinyl are best, but for some other music CD's are better. So I guess you can't really say a turntable is better for everything.

P.s. the Wadia plays Killer tunes even when a bad disc is thrown at it, scratched, MP3, CdR's anything I can think of is flawless.

Alwayssheng, did you end up getting one? If you did please share what you got and how you like it. Phil Brady.

Give a try to Lyngdorf CD-1. It is cheaper than CDPs that you are looking after but should be as good as some of them. I liked very much its dynamics and openess ... Meridian G08 is more relaxed, very neutral - really good player. Naimd CD 5x I would put also on the short list.

Classe cdp-100 is a kind of legend already, but you won't find it new any more.

Naim CD5x works well with the JM Labs.
The Naim has a slight rolled off high, sounding very robust and has a very nice pace, rythm and timing.