CD player suggestions...

@ampus ,

"Not sure why the Emotiva hate from some of the posters."

Well, since you asked, I will tell you my experience with the ERC-4.

Purchased new/direct from Emotiva. Unit arrived with the metal faceplate for the drive tray bouncing around in the box. No big deal, as you could easily tell that it was just super-glued onto the drive tray to begin with. Easy fix, but it did make me wonder why it wasn’t at least screwed down, other than the actual drive (and tray) are plastic.

Gapless playback. The fact that this exists in any player being offered as a "new product" is simply unacceptable.

The CD drive itself. I opened the case and removed the shroud, which exposes the CD drive. It’s a plastic Chinese OEM CD-Rom drive for a PC. I looked it up on the internet and they cost $10 a piece.

RCA vs XLR. The specs in the manual state that it is a fully balanced CD player. This is NOT the case. The manual states a gain of +3db using XLR vs RCA. Again, NOT the case.

Overall Sound. Nothing special. Sounded similar to an old Sony ES CD changer I still use which was manufactured in the mid-90’s. Emotiva claims this as a Reference Grade, Audiophile Grade CD player. Clearly (and I do mean clearly), this is not the case.

Now, the ERC-4 LOOKED nice. Great display, and nice remote. Unfortunately, that’s about where the enjoyment ended for me. I returned it to Emotiva and ate the restocking fee. To be fair, the return was easy, and their support staff didn’t seem too surprised by my request to return the product for a refund.

I have had a lot of CD players over the years (and still do), and in my honest opinion, the Emotiva is a $99 CD player in a stamped metal chassis that should cost under $200 (and that’s being generous), but they are selling it as a "Reference Grade/Audiophile Grade" player for $600. No Gapless Playback? Not sure how that made it past the pre-production stage, but that is simply unacceptable in a player being offered in 2022.

I returned mine within the 30 day period, ate the restocking fee and moved on.

And there you go.

I would stay away from the Emotiva player. I would go with Marantz or Yamaha if a CD player is what you want.

The Audiolab and Cambridge transports are not CD players. They require a DAC. I believe this to be a good way to go, transport and DAC, just want to make sure you understand this. It can be done within your budget. More money will be spent on the transport. A budget DAC from Schiit Audio would likely be as good as those in players within budget. An inexpensive DAC could be replaced at a later date if you desired.

Mensch I do have the Marantz 8005 cd/ sacd and the Yamaha cd/sacd. S1000, both are amazing.

@jayctoy Yes I am sure that at their price points both the Yamaha and the Marantz sound wonderful. I recently purchased a Music Fidelity 2scd as an open box item for $900. It is a player that has coax, toslink, and USB inputs so serves as a stand alone DAC.  I find this player also to be wonderful at the same price point. CD only not SACD. The MF generally retains at a higher price point than the OP's budget.

Big shout out for Audiolab 6000CDT. I've wasted tons of $$ on 6 CD players ending at Yamaha S2000 which uses their state of the art transport. This beauty broke down again after a year back from the shop. In desperation I bought Audiolab 6000 CDT with Nuprime DAC 9SE expecting to be disappointed .....HOWEVER, this combo out performed everything I've ever heard before including several OPPO units which are excellent unless compared with Audiolab 6000. That DAC is the wild card. I expect to upgrade big time ASAP. Separates are unbeatable. Previously owned Cambridge Audio, NAD all up the line, various OPPOs...GO SEPARATES!