I can totally sympathize with your situation. I held off upgrading my digital source for a long time mainly because digital sources were improving at a good pace and there weren't too many players that were good at both SACD and redbook. There still aren't too many choices but there are more now. Like you, I've been looking at players in this price range but didn't quite want to spend that much. I looked at the APL, but after getting a reply from my initial inquiry, my last email to Alex, dated a few months ago asking for price and payment options, still has not been replied yet. Combined with anywhere from a couple months to perhaps a year of waiting time (that doesn't include the months spent trying to place an order), I just couldn't take that risk. I was looking at the Ayre universal player, but the lack of a competent local dealer made it a horrible choice for me. I was also looking at the Marantz SA11S1. Except for transport noise and reversed polarity (which are big concerns of mine), it is a solid player from everything I've read about it. Without getting into a "my modded player is better than yours" fight that would crap your thread, I think many of the modded players are good choices. I personally decided on VSE. What I don't like about most mod player options is that I have to procur the player myself and in the case of VSE, I need to get a used player that is at least several years old. The good thing about the modded players however, is that there are different price and performance levels.
Another choice would be simply to keep your Prima (or a better DAC)and get a competent SACD player. One big complaint I have about SACD player reviews is that they rarely comment and compare SACD performance. This leads me to believe that SACD performance is pretty close among many players and it's the really better redbook performance that you're paying extra money for. Yep, there are difficult decisions to be made. If you have the luxury of auditioning many of the players though, it should be an easier process.
