My advice is to stick with the well known brands that have been in business for a long while and that have big time R&D behind them: Gryphon, Luxman, Accuphase, Constellation, Levinson, McIntosh, Pass, Ayre and Esoteric.
I own two Luxman integrateds at the moment and one Esoteric SACD player. And they sound great and look good too. I've never had a problem with them. I've owned Ayre in the past and it was a quality piece.
If you can demo any of these, that would be ideal. Maybe there is a dealer near to you that can lend you one for the weekend or something. I've done that before with my local dealer. That's how I got to try out a Sutherland Little Loco, before deciding to purchase.
