Looking for opinion, Cary 303/300, thinking about

A cd player is never a "good investment", especially if you buy one based on others opinions. All high-end machines have their own unique sound. I own the Cary and have owned ARC, Classe, Wadia, Naim, Rotel, Marantz and heard dozens of others. They all sound very different from one another. Go out and listen first is my advice.

I forgot that I also owned the DV-50----how could I forget???
MDP:
Anyway, I find almost all cd players sound closed in on top. That is my main problem with them. The only recent cd players that I found to actually sound extended on top to the point of brightness are the new Marantz SA11 (owned that) and the Musical Fidelity A5. It is a false sence of openess, created by a roll off in bass response.

Now I don't find anything warm about analog playback. So I don't equate warm sounding digital to analog. No digital in my experience routinely sounds as open as analog...case closed.

The ARC CD3MK2 is by far the "warmest-darkest-most closed in", the "worst" for me- so there you go.. Naim is also "warw" but has an electronic signature.

The Cary 303/300 is definitely not bright. It has edge definition though, that gives off ambient cues similiar to analog playback. But it still is not open on top like analog. Years ago I heard an ElectroCompaniet at a dealer. I'd say the Cary has a similiar but much more refined sound . The Cary is full bodied, powerful bass, dynamic, large soundstage, sweetly burnished highs. A player that is easy to listen too but not to the point of being too warm and dark.

I heard the Lector Tube player at the show last year and that certainly had extended highs. So did the modified Sony- don't know which one it was. But I thought the bass was tubby on the Lector. The Meridian GO-8 to my ears sounded more extended on top than the Cary. But that I thought sounded mechanical. Probably the Krell SACD Standard is what you should take a listen to. Wide open bandwith top and bottom with low levels of coloration.