Bluesound Vault 2i, with external DAC and hi-end CD player

In trying to get rid of the thousand physical CDs i own so I demoed the Bluesound Vault 2i against my Theta Miles CD player (with a Krell integrated amp and Thiel speakers.) The Theta produced better sound so I sent back the vault. Someone suggested that I use an external DAC, like the Chord Electronics Quest DAC, with the Vault 2i to produce the quality of my CD player. Has anyone any experience with this scenario?