How much does CD player affect overall sound?

I usually try to select a component upon the needs of my system's needs first, and my preffs second.

As personal preffs go, I'll vote otherwise for the CJ & BW items the other poster said were 'dark' sounding to hem. I found nothing muddy or unclear with either items... CJPV14 or BW 804s. Not at all.

Perhaps if some other digital sources are in or about to be in the mix, a DAC might be in order to seek out. A great DAC will escalate the perfomance of of and improve upon, the current levels of the now CDP. Albeit a very good DAC IMO begins around $1K new, and goes up from there. So there's that to think about.

What does your rig need? What do you want yourself, sound wise? Well, then, there's your direction.

My audiophile friend of 30 years in the biz, both in audio and studio recording, summed that what you heard from your stereo was comprised of 70% speakers, 20% room and 10% components. This is probably pretty close. I might take a few % points from the speakers and give a little more to room and maybe a couple ticks more to components, but speakers by themselves certainly are at 50% or more.

Cambridge digital in general is pretty good. You may have to spend quite a bit to get better, or maybe even just different, but not necessarily better.

Agree with Tholt. Modern electronics and digital technology has resulted in there being less differences between source/preamp/amp (once you reach a decent level like a Cambridge CD player) than with room and speakers.

Choice of speakers and the room can make night and day differences...one cd player versus another is often a matter of degree in quality and clarity or "flavor".

As a follow up if you haven't treated the room, as unsexy as that may sound, one cd player from another won't ever sound as good as they could, nor your system for that matter.

Source first and balance is best. I have heard small speakers sound great with good quality source and electronics.