Joy Elyse, I don't have an answer just yet but you do have the wheels turning. I can't predict the future, but the horizon doesn't look too good for the old CD format. I DO KNOW that I would not spend $3,000 on one. See, I'm not sure if it was the player you fell in love with or the equipment it was being played back on. A number of years ago when HDCD first came out, I just had to have a player with built-in processing. So I purchased an expensive, (at the time), Harman/Kardon player with Burr-Brown DACS and HDCD processing. Oh how I loved this! However, one is hard pressed to find any HDCD discs anymore, with the exception of Country Music CDs. What's the point? Don't be fooled thinking more expensive means better, it just means it costs more. Hopefully some Outlaws will post suggestions for you on brands and models that are affordable and sound "better" than your Sony.