Thanks for all the suggestions. Sugarbrie's makes an aweful lot of sense to me. The other thing, that I failed to mention, is that I want a DVD player that can play VCDs, and SVCDs from recordable media. The pioneer does this, so not changing the unit, but upgrading the output stages makes very good sense. Thanks again--if anyone does have Stan's phone number or e-mail I would appreciate it. I have not searched the threads yet, but will do so.
Budget CD / DVD or D/A solution
I have a moderate family room system consisting of Cary 40M Signature monoblocks, Red Rose R3 speakers and Preeminence Reference 1 passive pre-amp. My source components are the problem (with the exception of the tuner which is a Magnan Dynalab Ft-11). I currently have a Pioneer DV 343 for CD and DVD playback. I need one unit for DVD and single CD playback (I only have one available input for this application). My first priority is good sounding CD playback. I'm not very concerned about DVD audio or picture quality--it just has to be able to do that. I would like to spend around $500 (more if there's something really great) and I don't mind used equipment (why would I be on this site?) Should I buy a standalone D/A and use it with the Pioneer, or is there a combination player with very respectable CD playback quality?