Upgrade Dilemma-- DAC + Transport or One Box?

Onkyo DPS 8.3 is a decent multi-format player... Otherwise I would recommend a single box player, since my experience is that the transport makes a great deal of difference... I would recommend the Audio Research CD2..

Sony 9000ES is a good model for causal music listening. Good definition on SACD, whereas if you are not satisfied with the normal CD performance, can use an external Dac for better CD performance.

My solution to the same problem was to go with a cheap dvd player and put my money into a really good one box cdp, then to upgrade the dvd to a decent universal player (Marantz DV-8300/Integra DPS 8.3/Pioneer DV47ai) when the prices settle or new models become available. My logic was this: A)I own approximately 600 cd's and only about 20 dvd's B)I watch approximately 1 movie each week, but listen to music every night. C)In many cases, the good from a seperate DAC can be lost by the bad of the extra connections in the signal path, so I wasn't interested in the external DAC option. In addition, everything I've ever read on the subject says that cheap DVD players make for terrible transports. D)I want to experiment with the multichannel music formats but am unwilling to spend a ton o' bucks to find out whether I like them or not so the player must be universal. I think both SACD and DVD-A will be with us for awhile with most commercial music coming out on DVD with SACD relegated to "audiophile" recordings and any artists affiliated with Satan...er, I mean Sony. Just my 2 cents, take it for what it's worth. Enjoy