What is the affect of cd player?

Magfan- those cables are excellant as you are finding out;Ralph from Atmasphere recommends Mogami as well and I found they are a real hidden secret for sure.
When it came to cd player for me the only way I could make a decision was to do home auditions;if you can find a dealer this is how I would proceed.

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.

And thus my early post.

That's a good player that is hard to beat for sound quality in a well set up rig. Different players sound different and some may sound better to you. Some mayhave better build quality but that does not necessarily always translate into a better sounding player. How the whole system works together in your room is what matters most.

I have never heard the Cambridge AZUR 840c player. However, different CD players definitely sound different. Even different CD players by the same manufacturer in the same system. I became acutely aware of this when I visited Ancient Audio in Krakow, Poland. This company makes three high-end players. I listed to the Lektor V and the Lektor Prime (low and middle points of the line) - same room, same speakers, same amplifier, and same volume. It was striking how much better the Lektor Prime sounded.