In doing my research (I preferred the 16k Burmester but that was out of the question), I listened to the DCS full stack and it was amazing but a little to analytical (maybe that was just the upsampling), Meridian 508.24 (amazing but not warm but not sterile), Wadia (loved them but found myself focusing on the details), Rega Jupiter 2000 (boring and undetailed), various Arcams (detailed but no soul), Naim (toe tapping musical but not very accurate (only listed as high as the CD5X), and a couple of others. I heard good things about the AA Capitole but at the time they were having reliabiltiy problems in a big way with the Series II and it was way out of my budget.
The Gamut was just plain musical with details but it doesn't cause you to focus on the details like the wadia or ML does. I have the CD1R version there was a later CDS (basically the same) and now the Mark II version (different method of processing so not sure how it sounds..$1500 upgrade that even the factory said wasn't worth it for mine model) The first version is the CD1 that was reviewed with a lack of bass below 40hz, but the CD1R version fixed all of that. The Gamut sounds much better out the balanced than the single ended.
I considered the Aero Prima but couldn't hear it and was really afraid to buy that unit blindly since so few of them were out at the time but I'm sure I would have liked it. I think the warmer sounds other units to look at would be the Electrocompient (can't spell them), Audio Note (3.1x), and there is another that escapes me. If you check out www.audiocircle.com you will get some other reviews of warmer sounding players as I have noticed they tend to review non-mainstream units more often. The Dodsen (or Dodson) is another unit and the Lector CD player is suppose to be another. The Opus is also compared more over on their forums. This and the Lector were not out when I started looking
But since you have a warmer 300B SET that rolls the top and bottom off, (I had a Cary Integrated for a while) a detailed but musical player might be the right compromise since your integrated will impart the warmness you prefer.
The only other thing I could say is pickup a PS Audio Powerplant 300 with Multiwave II and get the optional fan (used for under $800) and run your CD player maybe your intgrated with Tubewave, this will add some more detail to the top and slam on the bottom, a lot of people don't like the extra detail the Powerplant provides but it might be enough to keep what you have! Depending on where you are located someone might be able to loan you theirs for a couple of hours (it's that dramatic) My friend runs his Meridian 508.24 and his ARC VS55i integraded on it and the improvement is huge and he only has Multiwave I, now he wants Multiwave II so he can try Tubewave. I use a Powerplant on my front end and have used balanced conditioners also at times.
Good luck!
