Ben -- Nothing wrong with a hard drive player for your source. You can also rip your CD's to the hard drive uncompressed using AIFF or WAV.
CD's ripped to a hard drive uncompressed will sound better than a lot of CD players -- you'll have to spend quite a bit to outdo the quality. Try
ripping some CD's uncompressed and then A/B your hard drive player --
run through your system -- against any CD player you are considering -- you'll be surprised. You might not be in as big a hurry to buy a CD player.
CD's ripped to a hard drive uncompressed will sound better than a lot of CD players -- you'll have to spend quite a bit to outdo the quality. Try
ripping some CD's uncompressed and then A/B your hard drive player --
run through your system -- against any CD player you are considering -- you'll be surprised. You might not be in as big a hurry to buy a CD player.