Differences in CD players? Am I crazy?

The salesman may just have been selling, but I it sounds like he was actually following the sound and widely recommended philosophy, "the source must come first". Quite simply, the best speaker in the world - whatever that is - cannot reproduce what isn't fed into it in the first place.

If you start at the back end by upgrading speakers first you risk two problems. First, revealing speakers might highlight the shortcomings of inferior components or wire earlier in the chain. Second, choosing the "best" speakers depends on what amp you'll be using. You can't choose an amp without knowing what preamp will feed it. You can't choose a preamp without knowing what source(s) will feed IT, etc. You get the idea.

Starting at the source and upgrading in the same direction as the signal path makes it easier to match components effectively and avoid expensive errors. As far as what you hear or don't hear between these particular CDP's, I'll defer to those who have more experience with your particular components.

I'd say your observations are similar to mine. Digital sources don't vary greatly, and their differences are perceptible only on quite a resolving system, unless you have a really terrible cheap source.
If I were to greatly upgrade my system I think that speakers do make the most difference, but I would buy the amp first, since expensive speakers on a cheap amp sound terrible, whereas cheap speakers and a great amp can sound quite good. I would upgrade my digital source last.
I think the salesman may have meant well, but I think the source first argument is perhaps less applicable with digital than it was with vinyl.

I agree with Dougdeacon and Seantaylor99.

I would take the two players to some of the better audio stores in your area and have a listen with some gear that you think might be next on your list...Cd players are easy to transport and any good shop worth it's salt will be more than happy to help you out. You will need much more gear if you decide to upgrade your complete system, this is their chance to get a foot in the door for the sale and you can listen through some better gear than you now have at home.

I would stop in and talk to them first so they can have someone set aside the time which will be best for both of you.

Dave

I am not so sure there really is all that much differance between most off-the-shelf CD players.

First, you have the transport which is the proverbial 'turntable', or to be more direct, the thing that spins the Cd and the laser that reads the data. Then comes the DAC, or the thing that converts the data to audio form.

My primary Cd player (Audio Aero) can only hold one Cd at a time, but there are occasions where I want to load up five CDs so I don't have to be bothered changing CDs all afternoon. So, I use my Yamaha CD player as a transport and I use my fiber optic digital cable to run the information through my Audio Aero DAC and I I get the best of both worlds.

The point is, until you are ready to shell out mega-bucks for a high end CD player, there is not all that much differance unless you have invested in really high-end components down-the-line.