I'll second the question. I'm interested in the 3 also. For my case though, I'd like to limit the cost to $400. I'm interested in Nak's CD-400 and Alpine's CDA-9833.
I have an Eclipse 8454 and it is GREAT and has great pre out amp i cant even turn my speakers up all the way or they will BLOW it has many options and works well with anything.
I had a Nakamichi a couple years ago, 'twas in my truck when I bought it. Good performance from what I could tell - but I didn't have the best of speakers set up. The one thing I REALLY liked about it was that I could drive on my bumpy dirt & gravel roads without it skipping while playing CDs. Perhaps I had just never had a high quality player before, or perhaps Nakamichi is just better at that...I know they're good. However the unit began doing weird stuff... Upon replacing it I discovered that it had been a 2nd hand unit, the case was banged up behind the faceplate. I am about to revamp my system again and will definately be looking at 'michis