Another thing to consider are dedicated Optical Drives, mainly used for ripping CDs, that will also play CDs when connected (usually by usb) to a DAC. I experimented with an Apple Optical drive outputting into an Oppo 105, and the results were pretty close to to those obtained from just using the Oppo.
Currently I am using the Bryston Optical Drive as a dedicated CD transport. It has to be paired with a Bryston Streamer which then feeds into a separate DAC, so all of that would exceed the budget here, but for red book it does sound a bit better-mainly low level detail retrieval, particularly in the bass—than my Oppo as a transport into the same DAC. Melco makes an Optical player that can be played directly into a DAC for around $1500. The biggest issue with the Bryston is that mechanical grinding noise that rippers make, which occurs at the end of tracks. Not a big deal if I am listening a a Bruckner Symphony whereeach track might be 30 minutes, but if I’m listening to an album of Chopin Mazurkas that are each 90 seconds in duration it’s more noticeable.
Currently I am using the Bryston Optical Drive as a dedicated CD transport. It has to be paired with a Bryston Streamer which then feeds into a separate DAC, so all of that would exceed the budget here, but for red book it does sound a bit better-mainly low level detail retrieval, particularly in the bass—than my Oppo as a transport into the same DAC. Melco makes an Optical player that can be played directly into a DAC for around $1500. The biggest issue with the Bryston is that mechanical grinding noise that rippers make, which occurs at the end of tracks. Not a big deal if I am listening a a Bruckner Symphony whereeach track might be 30 minutes, but if I’m listening to an album of Chopin Mazurkas that are each 90 seconds in duration it’s more noticeable.