I vote for new DAC.
Having to repair well over a hundred CD players, all but a very few came down to the tray/laser assembly. Considering what I hear the street price for those who engage in that kind of repair today, I don't want to invest a large part of the cost of the machine in the power supply and output section knowing the part that reads the disc has as high a failure rate as it does.
Beyond that, a good friend who buys really expensive stuff picked up a PS Audio Perfect Wave DAC. He tried various transports, and found the cheap Oppo he had in a third system gave up nothing to the more expensive units tried, and every combination he tried bested his almost new $20K CD player. No surprise in his selling CD player pretty quickly after that.
At least with the PS Audio, because the DAC reconfigures the digital signal, the transport can be factored out of the equation. Great news in my opinion, as perhaps the weakest link in the audio chain is being taken away from us. Until recently, that has the exception and not the rule, but it's clear that the industry is going toward that.
Having to repair well over a hundred CD players, all but a very few came down to the tray/laser assembly. Considering what I hear the street price for those who engage in that kind of repair today, I don't want to invest a large part of the cost of the machine in the power supply and output section knowing the part that reads the disc has as high a failure rate as it does.
Beyond that, a good friend who buys really expensive stuff picked up a PS Audio Perfect Wave DAC. He tried various transports, and found the cheap Oppo he had in a third system gave up nothing to the more expensive units tried, and every combination he tried bested his almost new $20K CD player. No surprise in his selling CD player pretty quickly after that.
At least with the PS Audio, because the DAC reconfigures the digital signal, the transport can be factored out of the equation. Great news in my opinion, as perhaps the weakest link in the audio chain is being taken away from us. Until recently, that has the exception and not the rule, but it's clear that the industry is going toward that.