Benefits of DAC & Transport vs. CD player

the advantage of separates is flexibility. you can still find current production dacs using 16 bit, non up sampling chips. it is very difficult to find a one box player which does not up sample and uses a 16 bit dac chip.

you may be able to voice your source using two after market ac cords and a digital cables, insetad of one ac cord.

the advantage of a cd player, especially if it is tube-based is the possibility of finding applications for non-6 volt tubes. although many dacs and cd players in production use 6 volt tubes, there arev some cd players which take 12 volt tubes. i know of one dac which takes a 12 volt tube, namely the exemplar dac.

the one disadvantage of a separate dac is the interaction of transport and dac. some dacs are very transport sensitive. you may purchase several transports before you settle on one, or you may own more than one transport.

it is possible that your otlay for separate dac(s) transport may exceed the cost of a one box player.

then there is the digital cable. this another variable that may incur time and effort to create the desired "sound".

is it easier to satisfy your sonic preferences with a single box player or dac/transport combo ?

you be the judge. it depends upon your requirements.