Oak,
once again you are asking a question that can only by answered by yourself.
"Will a cd player sound better or worse than xx?"
People here can tell you what they own and their opinions of their equipment but only you will know if you find the sound "better" or for that matter 'different' between one unit or another.
That being said, cd players that have relatively the same hardware (i.e. not a cd player from 10 years ago compared to one built in 2003) will most likely sound so much alike that you won't be able to tell the difference, and certainly not with the grade of equipment that most people on this forum own. Perhaps some pricey microphone and recording devices could detect some variances in the spectrums but Alan would be the best person to know that information.
If you are looking for a cd player in a certain price range, you can just about guarantee that 95% of the cd players in that price range will all sound virtually identical.
There are always some exceptions such as tube cd players or any other hardware modifications that could potentially change the audio signal. Generally speaking, a digital connection from any cd player will go into the receiver in exactly the same way and at that point, it would be the receiver DAC and not even the cd player which may modify the sound anyway.
Of course many people may disagree with my assessment, such as those who think $100/ft cables also makes a difference, but ultimately only your ears will tell you the truth.
Go to a store, bring a cd with you, try out several different cd players, hopefully on the same speakers and other equipment, and then decide for yourself.
As for myself, i have a Panasonic CV52 5 disc dvd player which doubles as my cd player. I use the analog connection for cd playback and the digital connection for dvds. Even between that, i don't hear any signficant difference.
I chose my player based mostly on its options. It sounded virtually identical to a Denon and a Hitachi that i also auditioned. I will note however, that all 3 of these sounded a bit different from my 10 year old Technics cd player but i certainly would not say the Technics sounded so awful that it lost some kind of war.
