Whats the deal with CD players?

It may be that you are not letting the new player warm up long enough. I find that some CD players take extended warm up periods to achive their best sound. Mine will take 3-4 hours of being turned on before it sounds right.

Here's the deal in my experience. First, better CD or DVD transports will have a better sonic foundation, which usually yields better dynamic contast at least. However, the actual resolution and musicality you hear from a lot of these DVD players(at any price point), and some CD players, using higher quality hi rez dac's(like 24/96 andbetter), using standard CD's is pretty dern good these day's comparatively! You will find a much smaller disparity from CD playback on the whole from cheaper DVD pleyers vs more expensive players, simply because the Technology is greater than what's on the CD's to begin with!
And, if your using a digital out to your pre/pro instead of analog outs from your source, then your dealing with the potential sound of your pre/pro anyway, and things get even more similar from player to player.
I've actually found that using my DVD player's 24/96 digital out to my pre/pro makes the most sense for sonic return for the $!!! When I had a better 2 channel only preamp, things were a bit different, but still not that vasty better using analog outs of better CD players, vs Cheaper DVD players with higher order processors numbers wise.
I think for most peoples scenario, most modest DVD players can do a superb job from their analog outs for 2 channel into a pre amp. Yes, you can get better immprovements with units boasting better transports and parts, but the difference aint what it used to be with 16/44 bit CD source material any more! Infact, some DVD players of modest price will still outperform very expensive separates from just a few years ago!..you gotta weigh it out, depending on your system needs, and source material.
good luck

Why not try an A/B comparison at a good high-end dealer.
If you can't hear any differences through reference level equipment, then you have your answer.

Listen to practically any CD player that interest you. Take some time to acquaint yourself with its sound. And then listen to the Audio Aero Capitole, just for the purposes of differentiation, as this player is certainly expensive. This will expose you to the chasm of sound differences between the various CD players. It did for me. I now own the Capitole. The differences were not subtle (listened to Naim, Linn, Rega Jupiter, Cary, Levinson, Arcam...) Oh, and wires try the Mapleshade bare copper wires ($90 from Mapleshade Records). You'll notice a HUGE difference and it won't cost you very much.

Good Luck, Kurt

With respect to Audioslug and Dopogue's posts above, I've also taken their postion (controversial as it may be) in previous threads here going back about a year and a half or so. In that time period, I've been using an RCA 5223P DVD player (a full review that I wrote is posted at Audioasylum) as my prime digital source. It was better stock than my Arcam Alpha 8SE (which sold for about 4 times the price) which I ended up selling. Since then, I've improved the performance of the DVD player further with an aftermarket powercord and extensive chassis damping. As with any piece of audio equipment, I think it's important to properly site and isolate the piece, and my experience with the DVD player leads me to believe that they can benefit strongly from a decent power conditioner, probably because the power supplies in them are pretty cheap. By comparison, my Arcam was not as substantially improved by my power conditioner as the DVD player has been. I have always been an analogue fan, but cheap digital has made great strides in the past few years.