What is the affect of cd player?

There is no "most important" in an audio chain. Think of yourself as looking at a garden(your recording of musicians in the original venue), through a number of glass panes(source to ears/your electronics and room). Does it matter which panes of glass are dirty or off color, with regards to what you see? Some components have a harder job to perform than others. I've always considered converting a series of electrical impulses into sound waves/music(accurately/believably)and interfacing that with the average listening room, as the most difficult to accomplish. But, that's just my opinion. The player you own is highly regarded/sounds damn good, and yes- You'd have jump a couple performance levels to improve on it(at least get into a tubed output player). Again- my opinion/experience. The improvements in the upper tiers of what's available in players are way more than subtle, affecting sound staging(width and depth), image size and height, instrumental timbre, detail without grain/stridency, frequency extension in both directions.... well- basically everything important to musical realism. As stated- Whether it would be worth it to you to upgrade, would depend on the rest of your system, and your ears.

Shakey- You mentioned that your Sony was modded. Obviously you would agree: They take modding(especially those OS-AMPs) to sound good. What was the original cost of your Sony and the final expenditure, before you were satisfied? I know the popularly modded SCD-1 was originally $5K. I've got a VK-D5 that was very close to $5K new($4500, then I added six NOS Siemens CCa's). What BAT costs less(the SE starts at $5500)? To which Granite did you listen, and with what upgrades? The 657 starts at $2900(almost twice the cost of the Azur), and if it was a 650 upgraded to the tubed version(makes a world of difference), that would up it's price to $2900 as well. Still a significant jump, even if not to the old $5K mark. The reviewers that set that price, admittedly hadn't listened to everything out there. They wrote based on their experience, ears and preferences(always encouraging readers to audition for themselves). What else can be expected of reviewers? Then, of course, there's always that ubiquitous/highly subjective term, "better".......

Whatever a VK-D5 or 657 are selling for now; They were originally $4500 and $2900(respectively). Both are also tubed units which I had mentioned earlier would probably be an improvement. I prefer the presentation of my modded BAT to that of the Cambridge, but don't consider it a fair comparison. I enjoyed my(long gone) CAL Alpha/Delta combo, but- I couldn't honestly state that I'd prefer it to the Cambridge, without actually comparing them in my present system in an extended listening session. The Cambridge is an excellent sounding (currently manufactured, out of the box)player(for the price), BUT(as you said), "To each his own." Happy listening!!

Better study your grammar a bit more, Zim. "Affect" is a verb, and "effect" is a noun. The OP used the word correctly in his post(though the title is iffy). CD players may not have affections or affectations("affect" is neither a feeling or an attitude), but they WILL affect(cause an effect on) the sound of a system.

Oh Zimmy- The first definition for affect in Webster's(a very popular dictionary in this country), "verb: to act upon; to produce an effect upon; to excite the feelings(of); make a show of; pretend". The Miriam-Webster's dictionary has no mention of affect being used as a noun at all(hardly common in this country). The first definition for effect: "noun: that which is produced by some agency or cause; a result; a consequence; etc. There is mention that IN CONJUNCTION with other words(ie: for effect, in effect, take effect) it can be used as an idiomatic verb, or as a transitive verb by ADDING OTHER LETTERS(ie: effectED, effectING, etc). IOW: "Effect" has to be modified to be be use as a verb. This says your use of, "affect"(under noun) is, "obsolete": ( http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/affect ) As I stated, the OP's title was, "iffy", but(as Tbg posted) in the context of exciting the emotions........

Just a little semantic gymnastics, between listening sessions. Happy 4th!