the best CD player under $1k?

I would think twice about spending $1000 for a CD player based on my recent experience. IMO, you should investigate some of the budget DVD players I'd probably look at the Pioneer DV-333) with the view to doing some very inexpensive tweaks relating to vibration and resonance control. I recently sold an Arcam Alpha 8SE because my RCA 5223P DVD player (definitely not much of a name in audiophile circles) was pretty much the equal of the Arcam at about 1/3 of the price (even less if it's still available on-line). I am not going to say that ALL the RCA players are great, because these large companies very often change their players significantly from year to year. What I can tell you is that the 5223P is a very fine sounding CD player. I've taken good care (as I did with the Arcam) to isolate the player properly (sandbags, proper shelving, vibrapods) and use decent interconnects from the player to my integrated (Silver Audio Silver Bullet 6.0's), and used a quality line conditioner with both the Arcam and the RCA. Since I sold the Arcam, I've further improved the performance of the RCA with a cheap $10 anti-resonance tweak and now use a Cardas Golden power cord (that I used on the Arcam) on the RCA through an adapter that Harmonic Tech has just come out with. In any event, I would be inclined to go cheaper on the player and spend the money on ancillaries which you can keep when you upgrade rather than blow $1000 on a player. I know from listening to the Arcam 9 and FMJ that I'd have to spend an outrageous amount of money to get a pretty marginal improvement. And if I was spending $1000 (I will never spend $2000 or $3000 on a CD player but that doesn't mean somebody else shouldn't), I'd probably investigate the higher end DVD players (maybe a Pioneer DV-37 which has a good reputation for sound) and do a power cord upgrade.

Creek 43. I own a Marantz 6000 OSE, and my dad has the Creek. Huge difference, now the Creek was a tad tizzy in the treble at first, but after an extensive (150 hour) break-in, it seems to have worked itself out. The addition of a JPS Digital power cord also helped immesely. The Marantz is a great player, believe me, but I think that it is a tad rolled off in the bass, and it definitely lacks the requisite bite with electric guitar. A little TOO laid back if you listen to much rock, but sounds great for my jazz. Also, you might consider the Marantz as a transport and getting an MSB Link DAC III as well for the D/A conversion.

The only one 2 I have heard that are worth it are the Rega Planet and the Rotel. However, the Rega was no better than a Micromega dac that I bought used for $300. As an alternative to spending $1000 on a 1 box player I would consider getting an Aiwa CD player for $90 and get it modified by Stan Warren for $130. Then add an AA DTI 2.0 used for around $200, an Apogee digital cable for around $50 and then get a used dac or even an MSB for around $500. This would give you good sound with upgrade capability. If the Aiwa turns you off, then you may want to subsitute a Pioneer 333 DVD player for $200 and a Monster Lightspeed toslink for around $50.