upgrade player or use modified oppo bdp 105 as transport

I was on the same quest and am still tied to CD/SACD playback.  I had a Modwright player and did a ton of research on a separate transport / dac that would do SACD's.  PS Audio was the only choice that I found that was viable in the price range I was considering.  I have some concerns about their products and pricing structure but I won't go into that.  If you don't care about SACD's there are excellent options as mentioned.  I finally ordered an Esoteric K-03XD based on it's transport and overall performance.  I got a 20% discount and at least it has a three year warranty which is better than most others.  I can always get a streamer at some point.  It should be here next week.  

update

I went with the project RS2T transport (used) into a Musetec 005 dac via rca coax...balanced outs from the dac into a Benchmark LA4 pre,,,,,,,

Sound was great, better than the bdp 105 as a transport.  How much better is hard for me to quantify.  A/B critical listening is difficult given many factors including short attention span  LOL.  While the project was "away" for "repair" (bogus), I felt the 105 had a lil more midrange punch but wasn't fleshing out instrument separation as well.

But I've had issues with the Project. Strange ones regarding sound cut-outs that seem to be tied to electronic devices turning on in the house.  Also, no sound at all using outboard power supply from LTS designed specifically for the project. They sent me two with two new umbilical cords. Neither worked.  Sent the project to the u.s. based repair center.  Worthless. Exact same issues persist.  I am now daisy-chaining two power conditioners until I can figure my next move. Love the sound when it works.  Also see that the RS2T is no longer on back order, so, maybe they have fixed their issues, but now I'm gun-shy.   Another option is a jays-audio cd3 mk3 at 5k.  New Project RS2T's run 3k and I still have the unused LPS.

Bottom line....I feel transport to dac is superior to a cd player. 

Thinking about trying the 105 as sacd transport into a geerfab dbob device that can deliver some type of higher res signal to the dac.  It uses HDMI out from the 105 then coax out from the dbob.  I know someone that has a dbob and loves it,

Happy listening.

I’m not as patient as you are, and I’d dump the ProJect asap (the writing’s on the wall with that one) and just move on — life’s too short.  You could pick up something like this Jay’s Audio CD2 Mk3 for only about $2k and probably get even better sound quality without all the issues.  

https://tmraudio.com/components/cd-sacd-players/jays-audio-cdt2-mk3-cd-transport-1/

Best of luck.

Soix

You are probably correct. The RS2T is driving me crazy. Really think its a mute issue tied to an internal power problem.    Mute button on the remote has never worked. In fact only two or three buttons actually work on the remote.  Just unbelievable.

Eager to try out some other higher end transport.  Not sure about another used digital device.  Maybe from someone I know.  Hans Beekhuyzen reviewed the cd3mk3 at 5k but at the end of the youtube review he said some other transport sounded better but, for the life of me, I could not make out the device that he mentioned.  Anyway.

Happy listening.

FYI, I was having "issues"" on my Audiolab 6000 remote. After a lot of head scratching, the batteries were low. Replaced and all issues went away