Thanks for the useful information. It's a Sony CX333ES. I am not sure what you mean by "insufficient output level." Are you talking about the voltage being too low (if so, is there a way to solve this other than using different components)? WRT being scratch related, I understand that there could be other causes as well, but the problem seems to only occur on those CDs that are scratched (often occurring on the last track or two toward the outside edge of the CD).
transport DAC incompatibility?
Here's a problem that I am scratching my head about. I have a new Sony CD player that I've hooked up to a Bel Canto DAC 1.1 through a toslink connection. Now, even the smallest scratch or smudge is audible as a sound that is very similar to a scratch on an LP. This problem does not occur using the Sony's internal DAC. I hooked up the Bel Canto to an old Philips CD player I have, and the problem did not occur there either (I tried both the toslink and coax outs from the Philips). Any suggestions as to why this only occurs when the Sony and the Bel Canto are hooked together and if there is a reasonable "fix?"