stereophile class b cdps of the past....late 90s

Well, I had the Meridian 500/563, Parasound CDP2000 and the CAL Alpha/Delta which seems to be in your $ ball park. The Alpha might be a slightly better processor, but the Delta is the worst transport of the trio. The Meridian is mid way. The Parasound is my fave although it wasn't in Stereophile. The Parasound's transport is very good too. It is only a 19bit player (advertised as 20) though.

naim cd3. very musical sometimes available for less than $700.

It's hard to go wrong with a used Rega Planet for around $400.00 or Planet 2000 if you can find one under $500.00.