New CD player, Transport or DAC?

Hi, Dylanfan. I have one of the 1st iterations made of an unspectacular soundind, Sony 5 disc (rotating, lazy susan-style transport) that offers a pretty decent method for loading, holding, shuffling & moving abouts 5 discs of your choosing. However, the built-in DAC is @ best a primitive affair with underwhelming sound. I bought an early version of a Musical Fidelity DAC, the now discontinued V90 with a 24 bit 96kHz capable Burr-Brown chipset, and the sound of all my CD playback was very audibly improved.

I'd say look for a DAC with a good core chipset, like the Burr-Brown (Lord knows they rapidly advance with ever higher sampling rates and better bit depth. Just choose a DAC W/ the flexibility to connect to your player's raw digital output whether digital coax, optical, or USB or even firework if your Apple centric. Let me know what you find. I probably could use another dedicated converter, since I often find myself switching it from duty translating the digital out of my macbook pro & mac pro tower in the office by day & night duty getting the Sony out to my Manley Stingray integrated tube amp. This and a pair of Anthony Gallo Reference 3's make for a pretty well dimensioned soundstage. I prefer spinning my tables, but the 5 disc transport sees significant use, and I don't have to garage sale the collection for pennies on the dollar. Good luck! Happiness, Andy chomicz

There are many high-end CD players with their own high-end dacs
E.g. REGA ISIS valve, NAIM, Meridian, DCS, Mark Levinson, among numerous others.
They are all north of $10k , but maybe a used one may fall into your budget

These are not mid-fi or entry level hi-fi. Any of these will smoke the suggested comps.

Dylanfan,
What is your budget?

Trying to keep it at 3000.00 or less. Just wondering if digital is just going to sound digital no matter what. I have so many great CDs that are just so bad on a good system.

Time to load up. I'm convinced that a sizable investment in a CD transport is now futile. A music server should be your course as it will outperform a transport. It also provides the convenience of having your library on you iPAD. Good luck.