As far as performance for dollar, I would recommend the CXC. You can buy one inexpensively and “refurbished” that I suspect is actually new, on eBay. Plus you can modify it with additional dampening with Noico or Dynamat as per one of Steve Guttenberg’s videos. That’s a fun project. I did it with my Lumin U1 Mini and it worked out well. This way you can swap in and out the DACs of your choosing.
CD Transports
Greetings. I am setting up a second system for the basement and am using a 1978 Sherwood receiver. At first I was going to just use the turntable with it and play the tuner occasionally but then thought I'd like to play some CDs. In my main system I have a Rega Apollo R hooked up to an Exogal Comet/Ion. Clearly I don't need the DAC in the Rega so I reasoned that it may be better to transfer the unit to the basement and get a transport, namely the Cambridge Audio CXC, for the upstairs primo set-up. Does that sound reasonable? The CD format is moribund so I don't see the point of getting a top dollar one--most of my CDs are ripped on the laptop and I just kept some rare European favorites. I was also tempted to buy a 1995 Marantz CC 45 5-CD player for the basement, but it is probably not such a great performer. Do I reason correctly that the CXC is my best option? I think the DAC in their Topaz player is not as good but that sounds like a decent player too. Thanks for advice. rt