Good "warm" CD player for $500

You may want to add the Rega Planet 2000 to your list.

Although they cost somewhat more than $500, you may want to consider some of the tube-based Chinese-made players offered by Pacific Valve: http://www.pacificvalve.us/cdplayers.html

I have no experience with them, but fwiw their design descriptions seem to say all the right things.

Regards,
-- Al

If you truly have a "bright" room, a new digital player is not going to fix it. Been there, done that, didn't help. You have to somehow soften the room or adjust your listening/speaker positioning. It's amazing how even small adjustments to toe-in, listening distance, spacing of speakers, etc., can take the edge off a system.

Rotel 1072 cd player!

Spend your $500 on room treatments before you buy anything else -- a few well placed acoustic panels will benefit your bright problem, and your entire system, more then another cdp IMO.

Acoustic panels are prob the most unsexy thing you can buy but the hype is true. I hung some panels in back of the speakers, put small Cathedral panels in the ceiling corners and finally put up some drapes over a window that was right next to a speaker. I did about as much as I could w/o turning my living room into a recording studio. Visually the panels match the walls and are pretty unobtrusive. Sonically the sound is more natural, focused, tame and dimensional. Money well spent.