By the way (new post in case you already read my last one)
The best way to tell if that $700 CDP will make a difference is for your friend to bring it over to your house. Put the same CD in both your CDP and his. Set them up on your preamp. Press play at the same time. Oe of you (him) would be standing next to the preamp (or with the remote) and would switch back and forth between the two at random times. It would be preferable if you did not know which one was playing at any given time. Then you can see for yourself what/how much/if there's any difference. It's only single blind testing, but that should be good enough for an informal test.
