Old Rotel RCD971 vs. Marantz cd5003

I own both the Rotel RCD971 and the Marantz SA8003 and I think you would have to pick a Marantz player at this level or higher (the higher end players being designed by Ken Ishiwata) to see any improvement over the Rotel RCD971.

The Rotel still sounds more dynamic and exciting than the Marantz player but the Marantz player has the Rotel beat when it comes to timbral accuracy and sheer musical realism, so a choice between the Rotel and Marantz players will very much come down to your musical priorities.

All the higher end Marantz players exhibit the refined, "audiophile" sound that's the hallmark of Ken Ishiwata but I would agree that the lower end players (such as the CD5003) would compare poorly to what you already have.

The Rotel does not sound dry/sterile sounding in my place (hardwood floors with wool rugs) so I think it's your room.

Synthetic carpet dries out and ruins good sound. I think that may be the biggest problem. Replacing it with hardwood works wonders. Alternatively, it could be replaced with a natural fiber carpet (cotton or wool) which won't dry the sound out like synthetics.

I used to live in an apartment with synthetic carpet that sounded so awful, I covered the floor (in the listening room) in cotton batting (because I could not pull the carpet up as per the lease). It looked weird but it sounded 100% better.

Moreover, consider that the opening between your listening room and the kitchen effectively makes these two rooms into one big room at bass frequencies. You probably have a bass suckout (or multiple suckouts) at the listening position which will emphasize higher frequencies, which could result in the hard sound you described (which is also lacking airiness due to the drying effects of synthetic carpet). I had this exact same problem in my former residence.

You might start with measuring your in-room sound balance. Once you have a good idea of where the suckouts occur, you can re-position your speakers to compensate.

In a large room, a small speaker will need the reinforcement of a nearby boundary to boost its bass response. Alternatively, large speakers are more suited to large rooms.

I don't think randomly changing your equipment will make the kind of improvement that you are seeking because the room effects tend to swamp the tiny tonal differences between equipment.

"All i know is I would rather have a bright, bouncy room that i have to tone down instead of a dead room that i have to liven up."

I agree and nothing deadens a room like synthetic carpet.

Maybe the Rotel sounds different from system to system and room to room, because in mine it sounds very involving. I will say though, that the CD medium itself is slightly uninvolving (and compressed formats like Mp3 even less involving) and that might be a reason to switch to vinyl.

I think SACD offers a definite improvement and is probably as involving as digital gets, but analog media are still more involving.