Vinyl guy seeking recommendation for a top level cd player

I completely agree with ghdprentice. Just look at his post:

Btw, I have been repeatedly dissatisfied and disappointed by digital for decades… the promise… the failure, rinse, repeat.

He forgets to lather. But aside from that, well said.

OP asked for CD player recommendations, and half the gallery goes off into the weeds as usual.

The Aesthetix spinner includes a very lush organic DAC. Stuff it with great tubes from Andy at Vintage Tube. Andy and Jim white of Aesthetix know how to get great sound.

The Ayre decks have also served me well over the years.

I will give my 2 cents. I have a Luxman D10x. When I play the redbook layer of Analogue Productions jazz SACDs and then A/B it against the corresponding 45rpm record from AP, the difference is almost negligible. In fact, I have started replacing some of my AP 45 rpms with AP SACDs. I used Nina Simone's Little Girl Blue, Grant Green's Idle Moments, and Cannonball's Something Eles, to do the comparison. On the flip the DSD layer of those SACDs sound flat compared to vinyl.

Moving to rock, the AP DSD layer of Pink Floyd's "I wish you were" sounds no different than the most recent release on vinyl. The DSD layer of my Japanese SACD of Fleetwood Mac's rumors is noticeably better than my copy of the Bernie Grundman's 45 rpm cut that everyone claims is the best version of the album.

My analog rig is Rega Planar 8, Sound Smith Paua MkII cartridge, PS Audio Stellar Phono. Amplification is Pass Labs XP-20 preamp and Parasound JC 5 amp. Hope this helps.

I like the ARC CD3 MKII.