CD Player used as transport

Does anyone have experience trying different CDPs as a transport for a DAC? I've tried a few and the results were all over the map in performance from terrible to OK, I suspect problems from the balance of the unit creep into the performance of the transport. Some could be poorly made or the designed is a 2nd thought from a transport perspective. There seem to be a lot of new or used options in the $500 range from manufactures like Oppo, Marantz, Sony, CA etc. but do any of them get the design and integration of the transport right so the unit can stand alone as a quality transport? I'm a vinyl and CD spinner, tried the computer route didn't like it. Looking to improve the transport side of CD playback before I consider upgrading my DAC.