CDP Upgrade

Hammer, I also upgraded from a Rotel player. I suggest you up your budget a bit more and try the Ayre CX-7e or Resolution Audio Opus 21. You'll be amazed at the difference. And, so will your wife. So much so, she'll over look the price change. At least that's how it played out in my house.

Unless, you have some reason to get into SACD's (you're really rich or just masochistic), I would suggest staying away from the universal players. You'll get more bang for the buck for with a simple redbook player.

I made a similar move way back when from a decent Rotel player, such as yours, to a Cary 306-200, then to an Ayre CX-7. I also thought the Rotel player was fine, but I can assure you, you'll be amazed and very suprised with the sonic differences of a well regarded player. My suggestion is for you is to do some reading here for popular players and try to find a hi-end audio store in town to "demo" the equipment.

Ask your wife to join you in demoing. Your living room will never have sounded so good and that will go a long way with her. At least it did with my wife. Good luck!