Thanks for the input. And yes RhlJazz voiced his opinion, nothing wrong with that, I asked for opinions. And while I cannot say I've had many CD players in my system over these years, I had listened to others, and did have my daughter's $800 Marantz in my system about 3 or 4 years ago for a direct comparison, and I found them to sound different, but it was not better. I haven't heard anything that made me want to upgrade, and that's why I haven't.
It's also true that I honesty don't need a multi format player. I own a DVD player I use for video, it is not in my stereo rack. I intend to use it for Red Book CD's, and maybe a few WAV file CD's of my own making.
Sure we all want detail, we all want to listen deep into our recordings and hear more than we've heard previously, don't we? But there was a quality to the Sony that made it my favorite, it had dynamics! Not bright, but certainly not smooth or laid back. It had bass slam, it was most effective on rock music, really delivered the venue, from studio to live concert halls, it was lively and envolving. I guess I'm from the camp who say, "if it works don't fix it", and that's why I have not upgraded it in all these years. In fact, the only piece of stereo that I have not upgraded in that time, many pieces 3 or 4 times in it's life. Perhaps the Sony 5400 is worthy of an audition? I also see in the listings a Cary 306 with a new laser, that has my interest, along with an Ayre 7, and two Esoterics. I'm sure it's a win/win situation, any of the above will make me happy, I can't see how they couldn't unless I got a lemon.
