CD player suggestions...

I really liked my Rega Apollo-R. Very analog sounding. I reluctantly sold it due to space limitations from reconfiguring my system.

If you can stretch your budget a bit, I would suggest Rega Apollo. Looks like music direct has a sale on them for $995. 

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.

Marantz CD6007