Am I nuts?

Like in gambling (as this is I guess), if you can't afford to loose the amount of money in question, it you shouldn't play with it.

I went thru 9 different players in my quest for a better sounding player without spending several thousand dollars.

The Sony xa5400ES (and a few other highly respected early models) FAR exceeded 'better', it sounds GREAT.

I was essentially LP, ignoring my 4,000 CDs (some SACD), until I decided to try.

Finally, so darn good, I do not hesitate to pick and play CDs with equal expectation of full involvement of well engineered content by favorite artists.

When you consider a great sounding player's cost divided by all your favorite CDs (I've got a lot I don't care about), the cost is low and the gain is beyond measure.

OP, why aren't you sharing with everyone which player you're in love with? I'd like to know. I have purchased gear just because I liked how it looked (Carver C4000 for instance). Share brother Share! Joe

Hey argee,

"NUTS" is pretty much a given in the hobby, no? :)

This is a bit off topic, however, related and timely.  Recent years, I have ripped my top shelf CDs in lossless to my PC hard drive to supplement online streaming, which is rapidly becoming my primary source for listening.  Side note: Bless All spinning high end vinyl...it's simply not viable for me.  My son's retro vinyl rig provides a "fix," however, from time to time.  

My onboard PC CDRom failed a couple years ago after several years of service.  In investigating a suitable replacement, I decided to go cheap rather than persue a high-end burner.  I ended up with this external $25.00 DVD drive unit:  

Amazon.com: External DVD Drive for Laptop, Portable High-Speed USB-C&USB 3.0 CD Burner/DVD Reader Writer for PC Desktops, Compatible with Windows/Mac OSX/Linux (USB C&3.0) : Electronics

Over the last decade, I've accumulated a substantial amount of classical and classical related CDs from thrift shops and yard sales, maybe 250+ titles, coming late to the party to these genres.  It's a nice winter project in Maine.  In the course of sampling and cherry-picking the collection, I RE-ripped some of my top-shelf CDs, finding the external drive rips were sonically, substantially better than the old rips, a welcome surprise!  In discussing this finding with my Tech last night, it was no surprise to him, given the advancements in recent years of even inexpensive burners via USB.   The assumption being a well isolated computer and good power.  

If I were considering buying a CDP, based upon my experience with an inexpensive modern burner, I would deeply research choices, especially on a limited budget.   D/A chip choices, from old R2R to present day alone are boggling.  Bon chance, argee!  (reminder, laser rulers for speaker and gear placement, Friends!)...Think Positive, Test Negative      More Peace - Pin

On the unit/units you are considering - do your research. The internet is a great source of info. for personal reviews regarding the reliability of performance of just about any unit you may be considering.

A few years back I purchased a used Cal. Audio CDP. that had several positive reviews that gave this unit high praise for having great sound. I Purchased the unit for around $500.00 (a good buy considering the original MSRP and great reviews). I was not disappointed in the units sonic performance - in every respect above my other CDPs. After 6 months of enjoyable listening, it stopped reading discs. After researching for repair options, I found only a few that would and that the repairs would be expensive, with no assurance that the problem wouldn’t repeat. Doing a little digging and reading many personal reviews, after the fact, I found that this was a common failure for this unit. I found that there was also high rates of failures in the drive and LASER units of many of the other high dollar CDPs of that era (early to mid 2000s). There are not many, if any, of the CDPs of that vintage, that I would now invest much money in - regardless of how good they might sound.

Do your research first and see if others experienced a high rate of failure and repair issues with the unit you’re considering......Jim