CD player suggestions...

New or used? I got an Apollo R for $650 used.

  There is an original Rega Apollo for sale here aGon. 3 days left. It's in your budget. I owned one of these also and really liked the analogue sound that it put out. The Rega Apollo R that I owned didn't have as much of that quality in my system.

Soley out of curiosity, I own one of the Emotiva CD3 players and unfortunately have little good to say about it. If I could, I would like to try yet another DAC with it, specifically the AudioQuest Dragon Red. Being as the AQ only allows for USB connection, is there an adapter to 'fix' this? 

 I mention it here because mechanically the Emotiva is good, but the rest of it, not so much. The OP could do something like this, maybe?

ampus,

 I did like how robust that my ERC3 was, but then the troubles started. One of the RCA outputs Wasn't reliable, so I used the balanced outs with an adapter. Later on, I decided to try one of the digital outs. The RCA digital out did not work at all, but it was too late in the game for warranty. Then I tried the optical out to a DAC and it works.

 The sound in my system is a bit dull with the ERC3 compared to an older Cayin CD22 that I used. The Cayin pretty much died and that was when I bought the Emotiva. The Cayin had its own set of glitches and finally was more trouble than it is worth at some point.

 Along the way, I did try out the Rega Apollo R and mostly liked it but didn't have room in my rack for a top loader. It better than the Emotiva, but not as good as the Cayin.