Are DACs superior to top-graded regular CD Players

I agree with George about the advantages of a transport and dac combo. I have a highly modified 47 Labs Flatfish transport that has seen many a dac over the last 7 years. Every dac put with it sounded very good due to the upgraded clock, black gates in the internal power supply, and a robust battery power supply with a bank of BG caps before the output stage.
My 2c

As George commented on, I have eschewed a separate dac or transport/dac combo & own a Vitus SCD-025Mk2 which is a pretty awesome dac & does DSD. I still like to spin cd's, so it is great that the player also has a very good transport. 2nd hand cd players with good dacs and transports which come to mind are the Reimyo CDP-777 & Accuphase DP-75V. Even the very inexpensive JVC XL-Z1050 is a good integrated player with some minimal upgrades like caps, iso feet (eg: Stillpoints Ultra Mini's) & a Furutech IEC.

Melbguy1, do you know anyone that still modifies the
JVC XL-Z1050 cd player?
Terrence Robinson used to do but he doesn't anymore.
Stan Warren did, but his number has been out of order for a few years.

Doug, I live in Australia so I only know one or two high end AE's locally. I have spoken to and like and respect Dan Wright at Modwright, however I believe he only does set mods such as his famous Oppo & Sony mods, though you might want to check that out.

I used to own an XL-Z1050 & wouldn'd advocate doing too much to it. In stock form it is a very good sounding player. Any competent high end AE should be able to open up the player & suggest some good replacement caps & do the IEC mod for you as it's not rocket science.

I'd look close to home as its always better to deal with your AE face to face.

11-17-15: Doug99
Melbguy1, do you know anyone that still modifies the
JVC XL-Z1050 cd player?
Terrence Robinson used to do but he doesn't anymore.
Stan Warren did, but his number has been out of order for a few years.
Doug99

Doug, if it's working fine, and you want to do a real great mod.
It has great R2R Multibit PCM56 dac chips in it, and will benefit greatly with a new I/V and buffer stages after the dac's.
Get a tech that's good, and replace them with a 3 stack of this zero feedback I/V and buffer, I show how to do it, and it will sing after this mod.
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-source/227677-using-ad844-i-v.html

It should take a tech around 1-2hrs and the parts will be around $30.
Forget doing caps/spikes and such if it's working fine, as these will do nothing at all.

Cheers George