Cleanedup- You've obviously stumbled into a controversial area. I think I share your view of "listenable" audio. The NOS DAC I have (original MF V DAC) sounded terrible when driven from my Mac Mini until I added a jitter control device (Theta TLC). I have moved to a PS Audio DL3 OS DAC, which sounds pretty good but not "magical". Now your transport will have less jitter than the Mini so the NOS DAC may sound OK. You can always add an anti-jitter device later. On the other hand, there is a tremendous variety of used CD players with that warm sound. My Arcam Alpha 9 is really magical. There are many, many other really nice CD players with plenty of reviews on them on line. I'd go that way if I were you.
NOS DAC or CDP?
Recently I had to get rid of two of my CDPs (Jolida JD-100 and NAD C542) for finacial reasons. In doing so, I've had to go back to using my old Onkyo DX-C540 changer. Now it's not a bad sounding player for what it is, which is a Mid-FI changer circa late 90s. But both the NAD and Jolida certainly bested it in all areas of performance, and yes, I'm missing that level of performance. In any case am thinking down the road of either getting another CDP (possibly another NAD or used Jolida) or maybe going the NOS DAC route. I'm thinking of going the NOS DAC route as the Onkyo DOES have a optical output, and I think that it might make a decent transport, and give me changer capabilities. In addition, from what I've been reading the NOS DAC would probably give me the warm, musical presentation that I enjoyed with both the NAD and Jolida players. Also it appears that many of the NOS DACs fall within the "price point" that I would like to keep (less than $500). BTW, I consider myself more a "music lover" than an "audiophile", and going the DAC route would certainly be something new for me. Anyway, appreciate thoughs and suggestions from the community on which road they might go down and why they so. Thanks.