New or Old CD Player?

@twoleftears the Sony transport makes you wonder, doesn't it?

Back when they manufactured them in Japan, Sony turned out the very best CD transports in the audio business.   The shift away from Japan production in the mid-2000s proved catastrophic.  Since then, I'd feel uncomfortable buying any machine that use them, let alone a $5000 player.  Ironically, at that same time, Philips, who had produced less than mediocre CD transports got their act together, and became the one you wanted.  Sanyo also makes a decent CD  transport today.

Personally, I'm more than a bit leery on spending real money on a CD player, the Achilles heel of an audio system.  Other than a good older machine, I prefer going for something with a more robust CD reader like a Sony 5400ES SACD player, Oppo, or the like, and if that didn't sound good enough, feed it into a DAC.  I find it silly that I can buy a Samsung or LG DVD writer at my local computer store for $14.99 any day of the week that offers night and day better reliability than the CD laser assemblies used in multi-kilobuck audiophile players

I would think Hegel know what there doing+R&D put into this player.
I know 5K is alot but get what you pay for especially compared to 20K+ players.
We can list reasons & fears not to purchase but end of day it's because can't afford it.

I will be 55 years old in September. I go to work. Half of my job is dealing with computers. Will not connect to internet. Over. And over again. Where is the Tech Support guy? Password. After password after Password. I can’t remember them all. When I get home, the Last thing I want to feel is that I’m at the discretion of a computer. I want to spin a disc. Large or small. Relax. Close my eyes. Relax.