I used to own Kyocera products and thought they made quality gear back in the day. I was especially pleased with their top of the line tape deck that was literally a Dragon (Nak) slayer at about half the price. I was in a similar situation just a month ago. I owned a Quad 77 that was 10 years old. At the time I purchased it and for several years after it performed nicely and compared well to newer players. However, in the last few years it became increasingly outdated. I just purchased a TRL modded Alesis ML9600 and an Audio Mirror D1 DAC and the difference in sound is amazing compared to the Quad. I'm actually having fun listening to CDs again and I'm a hard core vinyl junkie. Even the Alesis used as a CDP sounded better than the Quad due to its ability to upsample (my DAC is non-upsampling which is the sound I prefer - more analogue in my opinion).
Look around and listen. It will be a lot of fun and a great way to learn.
Look around and listen. It will be a lot of fun and a great way to learn.