hi-end universal players?

I had the same concerns and so went with the Marantz SA-14 ver. 2 because not only is it not cluttered with video circuitry, it's only 2 channel, which avoids more clutter. That said, the multi-channel players I've heard on even modest players and systems are very compelling given a good surround sound SACD. Maybe keep your good CD player and add an SACD player? If you have a stellar two-channel set up, you can add an amp to power the sub, center, and rears without "tainting" your current set up. : ) There *are* expensive high-end universals available now, as you've noticed, but why not wait for someone to come out with a really clean dedicated SACD player that's less cluttered and less expensive? I'm sure the people over at Musical Fidelity are working on something like that right now. It's my humble opinion that a good SACD player may not have to be as expensive as a good CD player, as CD players need a lot of band-aid technology, to flesh out CD sound, that SACD players don't.

I am thinking the same way, going with a universal player, mostly to save real estate on the rack, my main concern is for regular CD playback. I too was thinking Esoteric DV-50, or even Linn unidisk.

From what I've read if you can handle the price you can't go to wrong with the Meridian 800, it's supposed to be incredible with regular CD as well as the other formats. It's just too much dough for me, but that's the one I'd go for if price were not a concern.