Why don't you give Wadia 861 CD player a try? It seems to meet all your upgrade anticipation. And, one more thing, it builds like a tank. Good luck!
Wadia upgrade - Levinson or Naim?
I am looking to upgrade from a Wadia 830 CD player. I really like some aspects about it, such as resolution of the fine harmonic structure of instruments, deep bass, and a strength (slam?) that refuses to let music be ignored. What I really want to be different is its tendency to highlight the upper midrange a bit. I would like something with a bit fuller upper bass?lower midrange, and a more relaxed upper midrange. Given this, if I could also get a more liquid sound and PRAT, that would put me in audio heaven. After reading as mucha as I can, the top contenders seem to be a Levinson 39 or a Naim CDX. Has anyone compared any of these 3 directly? What kind of differences between them did you hear?