Cary 306/200 -- Still near state of the art?


I love my 306/200, but it's obviously getting a bit long in the tooth. Any opinions as to what I'm missing out on compared to the top one-piece players available today? If technology has really advanced, is there a newer player at around $2000 new or used that you would suggest as a replacement?

For those of you who had the 306/200, what was your next player, and are you happy with the upgrade?

For reference, I demoed the new Cary 303 against the Musical Fidelity A5, and preferred the A5. I would prefer, however, to have a player that has balanced outputs like my Cary. One-box suggestions only, pls.
dkidknow
I happily owned a Cary 306/200 for about 3 years. Then I got the bug. I bought 3 players used and tried them all. I tried a Levinson 390s, a Wadia 861se (more $ but allowed me to drop the preamp), and a Muscial Fidelity SACD player I can't remember the model of. I discovered there is better out there. In the end I kept the Wadia because it blew doors on the others. I recently moved from the Wadia to Ayre for consistency. More of a lateral move. Not sure what would be better for $2k. Maybe try a used Wadia in the same level and see if it's better? If you buy used you can try and resell if you decide not to keep it.
Need to bump this-- never got much in the way of responses. Now I'm looking (along with everyone else, it seems) at the Oppo BDP-83se. Wonder if anyone has an informed opinion as to whether the Oppo would be as satisfying a redbook player as the Cary is, especially since I could sell the Cary and have a good bit of money left over even after buying the Oppo.

Hope to hear from you.
I directly compared my friends BDP-83se to my Cary 306/200 and the Cary blew the OPPO away.

I was thinking that it would be nice to get an OPPO, but it would not be a replacement for my Cary.
Now that's what I'm talking about-- ask a question, get an answer that's perfectly on point. Thanks CGW. Of course, if anyone else wants to chime in, I'd be glad for more input.