Warm and pleasing CDP - can be biased, colored

Timrhu, Actually, the Meridian 508.24 is a deal at $1400. It used to list for 4k new. My premise is to put your money into your source and speakers first. Thus the suggestion for the 508.24. Silvmoon's system says that his current cd player is $995. For just a little more cash, he could have a 4k player, which I'm actually suggesting for a replacement. If you do some research on Audiogon... "Best cd player for the money", you'll find that the Meridian 508.24 is mentioned more than any other cd player, at least up to about two years ago. (The posts go back to the year 2000.) Starting about 2 years ago, I noticed that alot of people were mentioning Sony cd players--- not sure of the model. At any rate, my .02 cents worth...

Wadia is as far from warm as tubes are from solid state. Now before the Wadia henchmen charge the gates, they make a great product. Well built, superb sonics in their own way, but hardly warm.

Vecteur L 4.2..wonderful player and spectacular transport

I meant to mnention the Arcam FMJ23 also. It is a warm player that is tonally neutral but you really have to go some to make it sound bad. It aslo has excellent resolution and detail.
The Meridian's are good players and the 508.24 still offers one of the lowest jitter levels I have seen. However, like most players it can get a little out of hand without the rest of the system being up to snuff. As I mentioned above, the 508.20 is a little warmer but not quite as defined with a touch less resolution. Some like it better though.
I have to agree with the fellow above, Wadia makes a great player provided the rest of the system is up to it. I personally use a Wadia 861se and love it. I have also had first hand experience with the others I have mentioned.
I'm sure they're others. Some of the older NAD's were fairly well built and warm like the 5000. Of course, you don't see them anymore.
I think a lot of the older 1 bit players were warmer than these newer players. I haven't heard many I could get excited about. Seems like they trade some warmth for great resolution. I certaily didn't like the new Meridian G08. Talking about a flimsy feeling transport! And now all of these multi-format jobs. Hmmm

Everybody -- thanks for great suggestions.

Jaybo -- Yes, I have a turntable and that's why I came up with this idea of the 2nd CD player. I always thought my speakers/amp combo was somewhat cool sounding and for old cds rather harsh. But guess what when I played turntable. It sounded so pleasing and warm, and I thought maybe I could make this sound with a CD player.

By the way, overall I like the sound of my speakers/amp combo. That's why I'm not changing the speakers to make warm sounds. I only occasionaly miss warm sound.