Last year, after posting an inquiry on this site similar to the one above, and considering the helpful responses, I bought.a new Denon DCD-1600NE CD player. The MSRP now is about $1,500; then, it was about $1,100. Initially, I wasn't thrilled, and considered returning it. But with the addition of a good power cord and interconnects, and a much longer-than-anticipated break-in period, the sound improved considerably. Now, I think that in its price range, the Denon is a good value.
FWIW, I almost bought the competing Yamaha model, but was concerned about reliability issues.