While I generally completely agree to upgrade the component first; I actually cannot answer you based on the supplied information. What do you own.??
That $60 Toshiba SD-3950 DVD player used as a CD player sounds excellent even out of the box unmodified. I will bet that DVD player with a $500 set of cables will sound a lot better than a $500 CD player with $60 cables..
At one time I had a $1500 CD player with $1800 cables. To be honest, I only paid $550 for the cables used; and primarily bought them because the deal on the cables was too good to pass up. It sounded excellent that way; and a lot better than with the level of cables most people would buy with a $1500 front end.
I now have a $5500 Transport/DAC setup while still using those same interconnects.. So backwards does work sometimes...
It really helped when I auditioned those real high end digital front ends, to be using an excellent set of cables that I would actually be using with it in my system. You will be trying to choose a digital front end using cables that might not be up to the task.
I actually still own that $1500 CD player in a secondary system with other cables that were $1200 (list). Again I bought the cables used for about $450, but I can tell the difference against lesser cables, so it is worth it.
That $60 Toshiba SD-3950 DVD player used as a CD player sounds excellent even out of the box unmodified. I will bet that DVD player with a $500 set of cables will sound a lot better than a $500 CD player with $60 cables..
At one time I had a $1500 CD player with $1800 cables. To be honest, I only paid $550 for the cables used; and primarily bought them because the deal on the cables was too good to pass up. It sounded excellent that way; and a lot better than with the level of cables most people would buy with a $1500 front end.
I now have a $5500 Transport/DAC setup while still using those same interconnects.. So backwards does work sometimes...
It really helped when I auditioned those real high end digital front ends, to be using an excellent set of cables that I would actually be using with it in my system. You will be trying to choose a digital front end using cables that might not be up to the task.
I actually still own that $1500 CD player in a secondary system with other cables that were $1200 (list). Again I bought the cables used for about $450, but I can tell the difference against lesser cables, so it is worth it.