I bought my daughter a Marantz CD6006, running just over $500 new, and I compared it to my Sony EX player that was several thousand in price, and they sounded very similar. My feelings were a bit hurt that her $500 unit sounded almost exactly like mine! The rest of the system was exactly the same. When I bought that Marantz, I read consumer reviews on many CD players in that price range, and it had the best customer rating as well, as far as dependability and lasting past the first year. Worthy of consideration.