Help with CD Player

I've listened to the CEC TL-51 CD player and was very impressed. It delivers a very smooth, well integrated sound. Silky highs and transparent through the midrange. Only slight negative was that the bass seemed slightly lean compared to the Musical Fidelity. Otherwise I rated it extremely highly. I'm not sure about the durability of the belt drive.

Personally, I would go for the Musical Fidelity A5 which can be had for around your price target. Tremendously musical player!

get a Raysonic 128 new or used

Cambridge Audio 840C. Very nice player.

As Drummermitchell suggested, save up for the used/demo Bryston BCD1.

First off, what is it that you consider missing from your current CD player?

Not knowing exactly what deficiency you're looking to correct, I would consider a Sony XA7ES or XA777ES (this can do SACD as well). They're built like a tank and sound good, and should be available on the used market from $1000-1200 or so.

Other options include DAC's to use with your current player and possibly computer-based audio in the future. Some considerations would be an Electrocompaniet ECD-1, Benchmark, and Bel Canto DAC3.

You're willing to spend $1500, but for a fraction of that you could have a Music Hall CD-25, which is a very strong player for the money. There are also upgrade modifications available for it that supposedly make it even stronger. It's a great bang for the buck.

Michael