how do you know if you need a dac ?

Why would you get out of vinyl?  I can't imagine going digital has been a sonic improvement. 

@jond 

only see a digital out ( xlr )

@soix 

just couldnt find the right cartridge with the arm I had  and wasnt sure what arm would be the " correct one " .....and just dealing with the imperfections of the albums, cleaning , etc....was just getting to much.

The Ayre CX-7 has also 2 xlr and unbalanced analog outputs,You should try them and see if the sound is better than the digital xlr you should use it instead. usually in this level CD players have very good build in dac I am not sure you need standalone dac for your system.

OP- I got out of vinyl for the same reasons years ago. No regrets. Happy listening!

Tom

“how do you know if you need a dac”

Answer: Only when you try an external DAC and the music sounds better. Make sure it’s returnable if it doesn’t.