Good morning (afternoon in Spain). Since I feel this thread has pretty much run its course, I'm going to bow out now, but not before thanking everyone for your inputs, answers, opinions, feedbacks, critics, and, in general, the time you've taken to reply, both to me and to each other.
Best regards to everyone.
I'm sorry you've had such a tough crowd here. Whilst I do believe most/all CD players sound the same, I very much sympathise with spending money because you like the brand and/or styling. I went and bought a Rega Planet 2000 because I like the styling, and it's top-loading USS Enterprise.
What are you going to do? Are you keeping the player, or going to return it?