best cd player for 300-500 bux

Drag racing? Hmmm.... Are you sure you haven't suffered loss of high frequency hearing? That would certainly cause your system to sound like you're describing. First, check your tweeters. If they're good, have your hearing checked.

One more thing to check before making hearing or any kind of failure conclusions:
CDs tend to degrade with the age. Re-recording CD onto the CDR might solve the issue. You will also need to increase the recording level by few db if the software allowes you to do so. I use Sound Forge to edit my recorded CDs and that helps alot.

well i found the imaging problem. i had swapped out my power cord to my tube preamp because it seemed loose. i just used another junk stock one. well i put the one in that came with the preamp and it was like i took a blanket off the system. needless to say im upgrading my cords to the other equipment.

Or just get an Oppo and save $100-300 for something else.