I tried a cec before I tried the Oppo...I don't recall which model it was but it was definitely several years old but was also at least a few K$$$$. It sounded really good and certainly better than the Oppo ...the ONLY reason I didn't buy it was that it played only redbook CD's...nothing else. Not even burned copies of anything...it it wasn't redbook, it wouldn't play. Unfortunately, even though I have a reasonable collection of Redbooks, I already have quite a few copies and other discs that I frequently enjoy and I had to turn it down for that reason...but I was impressed (and somewhat disappointed) that there could be such a difference...more relaxed/natural/'easy listening'... I'll even say more "Analog sounding", it was a great sounding player. But the Oppo fills the bill nicely, especially now that I've climbed even higher up the dac tree.
Good luck.