CD player closest to vinyl?

I always find these types of questions to be a bit off-base...in my view, you want digital that sounds like excellent digital and analog that sounds like excellent analog. Each format excels at different things, so if you try to get one that excels at the other's specialties, then you just wind up with a compromised product IMHO.

I have an Ayre CD player too - the CX7e which is similar to the C5xe that I've heard too - and while the Ayre CDP's are very good, I wouldn't characterize them as being analog-sounding. They sound like good digital players, with tonality completely different (more forward, less midrange-centric) than good analog setups.

Again, as Ahendler said, if you're looking for analog-like digital, you're barking up the wrong tree IMHO. Good analog setups achieve a level of smoothness uncommon to CD largely due to the higher resolution of their design, not to an inherent warmth...CDP's that try to replicate this type of sound conversely have to reduce resolution to "smooth over the rough edges" inherent in CD playback. So if you try to get an "analog sounding" CDP, you might wind up getting one that's lower resolution than one that's just a good digital player (which the Ayre is, IMHO).