CD Player with digital input?

Doug - I am doing that right now. Still dosent compete with very cheap HDDVD player from toshiba running to same benchmark. The nice thing about the benchmark is that it has 2 dig inputs so that I can run the sonos AND the dvd into it.
The problem I am having is that even when I rip CDs to WAV, hardwire the sonos and send the dig out to the benchmark, it still sound flat.
I wish you had saved me $650...
My goal is to keep the sonos for convenience and get a good CD player when I am more concerned with quality. Ideally, I can get my hands on something like the Cambridge unit mentioned above for a demo. If the Cambridge Dac handles the sonos as well as the benchmark, then I can sell the benchmark and get some of the money back.
Really, what I would LOVE to be able to do is demo a modded sonos. I would be happiest if i could find a way to increase the sonos sound quality to that of a decent CDP.
If you have any thoughts, please share them. I dont know many folks in san antonio (where i live) that I can swap ideas and gear with...

CK -
Thx. found my opus rep and will give that a listen.

Not sure if anyone is reading this beside me, but...
I just got finished with a stock audio opus. I kept it for 2 weeks and sent it back. I fould no real improvement over the sonos to benchmark dac sound in my system and for $3500, I needed some real improvement.
No real harm doen though. Res Audio in CA was great about sending me a player and taking my return. Paid a 5% restocking fee which also covered round trip shipping.
I wish that I had Wadia money, but I dont. Next I am going to try the Cambridge and will also consider a used simaudio supernova.
I really liked the the esoteric SA-10 that I demo'd, but it didnt have a digital input.

Ckoffend -
I am new at this so I am not as articulate as many.
What I noticed with the SA-10 was what I would describe as greater extension and more air in the highs. Cymbals seemed to trail off longer for instance. My best description would be to say that compared to dvd-player to dac1, the SA-10 was like someone had taken their foot off of that second pedal on a piano (the one that muffles everything) or that a guitar player had taken his pick hand off of the strings. It was quickly and unmistakably noticeable and likable. Not one of those things that one is pretty sure they hear after a long listen. I ran generic balanced interconnects from the dac1 and the esoteric into the MA6900, qued up the same song on two burned disks and flipped from one to the other. I am sure that my methods were not scientific, but it seemed clear enough.
By contrast, when I did the same thing with the Resolution Audio player, I could not tell the RA and the DAC1 apart. Not at all.

At the moment, I have a Cambridge 840c on order. What the heck. If it isn’t the best choice I can return it. I will also buy a used AYRE C7xe to try. It doesn’t have my digital input but it can also be had used for a lot less than the Esoteric or the Resolution Audio. And it looks like 4 or 5 of them sold on this site in the past week so I don’t feel like I would be sticking my neck out that far if I didn’t like the player.

I had contemplated going to visit the nearest Ayre dealer, but he is 75 mi away and I would have to bring my speakers and the Cambridge player to compare and at the end of the day I wouldn’t spend the money on a new one anyway so it all seemed a bit dishonest.

We will have to see. The Cambridge gets here next week. I figure I will give it another week to run in a bit and by then there should have been some more of the Ayre players listed for sale.

If the Esoteric turns out to be the best choice for CDs, I will most likely go find one. It just seems like a big decision to me and I want to hear a few others before I settle.

Studio68 - The cary needs a good looking over too. Thanks!

CK - will do. Once the Cambridge has done some running, I will get either an ayre if one is around or a cary and see what I can hear.

Thanks to everyone who has responded. I tried to find a supernova in my town (because they just look so cool...) but failed.
In the end, I ordered the cambridge (becaue it was a mailorder) and bought the ayre on this site even though it didnt have the input because i figured that if I liked it enough i would just keep my dac1. I will let everyone know what I think about the ayre when it gets here next week. But as far as the cambridge goes, I really like it so far. both as as player and as a dac for my sonos. Need to play with cables and make sure that is not the reason but so far I like it better than my benchmark as a DAC. More in the next week.

I found a used Ayre cx7e on this site and ordered it to compare to the cambridge. I am new at this and not a reviewer but here are my thoughts:
Non - sound related: Not as important and easier to sum up. The Cambridge has a higher quality remote from a "percieved build quality" standpoint. Metal vs plastic. I use an old harmony remote but would consider keeping the Cambridge out to use. Not the ayre.
The cambridge reads disks faster. Cambridge display is LCD. To me, it looks like a high quality, mass produced item. The ayre looks more industrial but less common.
In my room, I sit about 12ft from the speakers and equipment. At that distance, the ayre screen can be read but I couldnt make out the cambridge display.
Sound - I ended up keeping the ayre and sending the cambridge back. Even though the cambridge would have been cheaper and allowed me to sell my DAC1.
In my room, the cambridge seemed too refined to me when compared to the ayre. The Cambridge smoothed out rought edges that in my room are better left rough.
In a smaller room, in closer proximity to the speakers I might have preferred the cambridge.
I changed my mind a couple of times during the month long demo of the cambridge. At one point, I decided that I preferred the ayre but that I ouwld rather have the extra money for something else. In the end, I decided that if I sold off the ayre and the dac1, it would bug me.
The esoteric was a very "different" sounding player (I could see someone calling it brittle but I liked it) and if I ever saw that model used I might pick it up but I cant bring myself to pay retail for it.

I will be putting together a small system in a study later in the year and want to try the cary and might even come back to the cambridge.

By the way, I had no problem at all returning the cambridge to audio advisors.