New Release CD Players $1000 - $1500

I've only seen a few reviews of the Hegel but they were excellent 

I have been watching this thread. I still use a now 26yr old JVC CD player. I have auditioned players over the years in 5-6k range against it. None made me want to buy. I only have 83cds; 3000lps / 2TTs. The on/off switch is not reliable; so I just leave it on. Actually, It sounds better leaving it on all the time. I use it to have music when I am busy and to warm up the system before getting into my LPs. So yes; I want to stay in the 1500 and Less price range. The JVC was $1000 new.

I had the JVC 1010. Great machine 

I use a XL-Z1050,very nice player.

With the number of stunning sounding DACs under $1,000 now on the market, it doesn’t make sense to invest so much money in a CD player (in this price range, at any rate)?

Buying a stand-alone DAC and a CDP to use as a transport allows you more options to upgrade in the future. Unless you don’t have enough space for multiple components.

Pick up a Gustard x20 Pro DAC ($830) and a CDP from NAD, Cambridge Audio, Yamaha, Marantz, Onyko, etc. for around $300 - $500 and you’re all set!

Or check out the Denafrips Ares DAC $600. 

I'll second the Denafrips Ares recommendation. I am upsampling to native dsd256 via hqplayer and it sounds fantastic. The dsd section is a separate set of discrete chips from the pcm side (which also sounds great). Also has balanced xlr outputs and a slim footprint. Hard to go wrong for $600.

Regarding the Ares DAC, what are the input and output connection types on the back of the unit? I'd assume one coax (RCA ?) input and one pair of analog RCA output but it's really hard to tell from the pictures. Thx.

Input 2 coax. 2 opt. 1 USB. Output  pair rca. Pair xlr 

Thank you. Looks like a very impressive piece, especially at this price point.

The Arcam CDS27, which is a universal disc player that will play CD/SACD/UPnP Streaming/USB DAC is $1500 and sounds great.