Good "warm" CD player for $500

Jolida or Marantz.

Warm up your room first. Put down some rugs,cover some glass,hang something on the walls, etc. I was pleasanly surprised when I did this.

You are absolutely right Tpreaves, but unfortunately it's not so easy. My wife likes the "minimalist" look so my ears have to sufer!!

Try something from the NAD line .
I had a 541 that was pretty warm sounding , great soundstage too .
Should be able to pickup up a 542 for < half of your budget . Rather easy to pass on if you don't like it .

Good luck .

at the risk of creating WERF (wife eye rolling factor) out of thin air, i would mention that the smoothest/warmest lower-priced cd player i've heard is the cute lil' sony ps1 model 1001. i find myself listening to it much more than my higher priced transport, as i listen primarily to rock of so-so recording quality and prefer its analog-like sound to hyper detail.

while i think that most people would consider it on the warm side of neutral, it is the smoothness that wins me over.

and you can usually pick one up for 20-30 bucks on E-whomustnotbenamed, so it's basically no risk. sometimes you can even get the remote with it in a package deal.

cheers.