looking for the best cd transport only, without dac

I stream through Airplay Tidal HiFi and love it. However, I also like physical media and the ritual of handling and reading CD's and vinyl and their covers. A NAS drive is something I'll consider at some point. But for now I have a lot of cd's I like listening to and while the Sony bluray is good for transport, I was wanting to see if I can get a good sound quality bump for my $1000. I'll check out the Marantz as another option. There seems a number of transports by the likes of NAD or Rotel that also propose good value. I appreciate any real world guidance here as it is difficult to really assess sound quality differences at a dealer. 

Don’t consider regular CDP players as transport ! they are lousy as transport because their inner DAC adding jitter and noise. since you already have DAC you need pure CD transport without inner DAC uder $1000 the best option I can think of is the Cambridge Audio CXC .if you are willing to spend more the Cyrus cdt or the other pure transports options that were already discussed here in this thread.

At one time I had 47 Labs Flatfish transport that was modified to the hilt with a Super Clock, BG caps and upgraded resistors in the internal power supply. It was powered by a very custom and clean battery power supply. This unit was by far the ultimate in transports with over 6k invested. To do this today will run about 10k. Unfortunately I had to unload it to cover medical bills.
Fast forward to a few months ago when I picked up PWT reurb, and it sounds real good. To take it up many notches I use an iFi SPDIF iPurifier ($150.00) on the coaxial input on my DAC (Digital Audio Company DAC HS) The iFi SPDIF iPurifier comes with its own very good power supply, but for s#*ts and giggles I purchased an Uptone Audio UltraCap LPS-1 ($410.00 delivered). The LPS-1 was a significant upgrade over the supplied iFi power supply and now I'm very close if not right there with the 47 Labs transport I once owned for way less $$!
If 1k is your limit purchase a PWT and save your milk money for a SPDIF iPurifier, sign up for a human drug trial for the LPS-1, and enjoy your music collection like never before.

Chris 

Thanks again. I wish there was a way I could compare PS Audio PWT to the CXC to hear how much of a difference those two cd transports may actually sound? I think the question in the back of my inquiry here is do cd transports really sound that different. Can anyone share more about directly comparing different transports and how much difference you thought you heard? Cheers, 

Transports do sound different! Problem is listening to a lot of them is difficult and costly. So many things can influence the sound coming from one. Inferior parts, bad laser alignment,  digital cable, and inferior power supply to name a few. Maybe find a used Cambridge CXC and do the iFi LPS-1 upgrade? Could be all you need and will fit neatly into your budget.

Chris