Best sounding player under $3500 Used ?

I demo'd many cd players with my rig (AP Virgos, ML383 amp, Mcintosh mr-77 tuner, oracle mkIII turntable, sistrum rack, jena labs and acoustic zen cabling) and found the Audiomecca Mephisto II cdp to have the most rich, organic and I suppose "analog" sound. I have seen them for sale as low as $2,800 although it is worth upgrading the db9 cord to the power supply with the new IIx cord for a couple of hundred bucks. I haven't heard the Ayre that others describe above (although I have noticed quite a few proponents of that cdp) but have auditioned the audio aero capitole and preferred the mephisto. I don't think you would be disappointed with an audiomecca at this price level if you can find one used. IMHO, the Mephisto II strikes me as currently the finest redbook player in your price range.

The Audio Aero Prima is one of the best sounding players period and it can be had for less than 2k new.

used Mephisto IIx transport + orignal Meitner/Melior Data II (John Wright-modded Bitstream) dac. Oops! Sorry- that's not a 2-box solution, but that's most likely what I would do with $3,500 max...

I agree with all of what is posted above but there is really no best CDP. They all have a different sound and you have to hear each in your system to see what works for you. I know it is hard to do, but that is the only way I could tell what was best to me. I recently did a DAC comparison and had the Audiomeca Mephisto II.X used as a CDP and as a transport with the DACs along with a very higly modded Shanling and stock Sony SCD-777ES. I prefered some of the DACs sound to every CDP we threw into the mix. The Electrocompaniet threw the widest soundstage and is very detailed, the Ameca is more lush/warm sounding but no like a tube unit, the modded Shanling bettered them all but again it was a special highly modded version that you cannot find on Agon. The Audio Logic DAC was clear and sweet and the Chord 64 DAC was excellent also. But again each has pluses and minuses that you have to hear in your system to understand. All of the above suggestions are excellent.

Happy Listening.

Resolution Audio kicks ass at any price. It makes music better than any player that is musical. Get it? But I haven't listened to them all.