Upgrade my CD player or futile effort?

If I rate my analog sound a 9, I would rate my digital CD a 7. My question is, would I benefit from a better CD player, even so CD6005 is no slouch, or am I gonna end up in a goose chase?

I’d rate your CD sound a generous 4 by today’s standards. My back-of-the-envelope calculations say you’ve got upwards of $10k invested in your vinyl front end versus $500 on a CD player. I mean, I understand when you say your digital knowledge is limited, but you’ve spent 20x more on your vinyl rig yet ask if trying to upgrade your $500 CD player is “futile?” Just how bad do you think digital sound is??? What the hell do you expect from a total investment of 500 bucks? How would a $500 vinyl rig including cartridge and phono pre compare to your current setup? Where does simple common sense kick in here man? C’mon.

Your CD player sucks. I’ve heard it, and it sounds exactly as you describe it. The good news is that at this low level even a relatively meager investment in a DAC will produce very meaningful improvements. Since you’re obviously a fan of vinyl I’d recommend an R2R DAC as they tend to have a more fluid sound that can appeal to (or at least not repel/offend) analog lovers. I’d recommend a Musician Pegasus over the Ares that you can get here for $1099...
https://aoshida-audio.com/products/musician-pegasus
or at least step up to a Denafrips Pontus ll that’ll also be a significant upgrade over the Ares. And PLEASE don’t use an optical connection. Here’s a very reasonable but still very good-sounding SPDIF cable you can use until you feel like an upgrade would be worthy...
https://smile.amazon.com/Geistnotes-Apogee-Wyde-Cable-WE-RR/dp/B01N5VXVA1/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1MMDOS2Y43QM3&dchild=1&keywords=apogee+wyde+eye&qid=1631741543&sr=8-1
You’ve got a nice system, so spending a few extra bucks on your digital setup will pay great dividends. Best of luck.

As far as streaming, even so it may be the way things are heading now, it isn’t for me...One thing that would be helpful to me is having bluetooth since I use youtube on my cell to check out bands I may be interested in. So hearing them through my system would be very helpful as my phone sucks.

But, what you’re doing on YouTube is precisely what streaming offers (minus the crappy sound quality). You can check out almost any music imaginable (still using your phone if you want but just as an interface and not the actual source) except you get to hear the music in CD-or-better quality on/through your main system without using Bluetooth or then having to buy the CD. You just made the case yourself why streaming IS for you. I’ve never had more fun as an audiophile finding great new bands/music (much of it in hi-res BTW) to the point where, and as someone else mentioned earlier, I almost never listen to my own CDs anymore. My advice, buy a decent DAC and a Bluesound Node streamer and you may find yourself having more fun enjoying music than you ever have before.  FWIW.

Great.  One important tip — the Wyde Eye is directional so pay attention to the directional arrows printed on the outer jacket as they are small and can be hard to see.  I installed mine backwards once and it was an unpleasant experience until I figured out what was wrong. 

Congrats on the Ares ll — I’m sure you’ll notice quite an improvement in transparency, soundstage, detail, etc. Just make sure you get a decent digital cable or it can undermine your performance. The Apogee Wyde Eye I recommended earlier is a solid choice, but there are others from Canare, etc. that are also very good — just make sure you get at least 1m length. Let us know what you think once the Denafrips has a few hours on it.