CD player with volume and digital input

If you are trying to get out of owning a preamp. It is unlikely that you are going to get great sound quality. The unit must basically have a high end preamp built into it... not just a digital volume control or it is going to sound detailed but soulless. Many have tried it. However there are lots of great CD/DACs.

I used an AI to get this, so check it. 

• Cambridge Audio Azur 851C

• Cambridge Audio Azur 851N

• Naim CD5 XS (with DAC/pre functionality)

• Audio Research CD9 / CD9SE

• McIntosh MCD550

• McIntosh MCD600

• NAD M51 (DAC/CD-hub hybrid use)

• Esoteric K-05 / K-07 / K-03 series

• Oppo BDP-105 / 105D

I own an Audio Research CD9SE. It is an incredible unit. No volume control. But I directly compared with the more expensive Berkeley Alfa Reference 3 DAC and preferred the ARC... a touch more musical. Highly recommended. 

I use the McIntosh MCD600 as my source and preamp.

Straight out to my amps.

Best sounding system I've ever had.

I have a nice sounding Mark Levinson 390s cd player.  It has a RCA SPDIF input and an analog volume control.  It was upgraded from a Mark Levinson 39.

It’s out of production, but maybe a used one can be had inexpensively.

https://www.stereophile.com/content/mark-levinson-no390s-cd-processor

With three digital inputs and much more powerful upsampling, the E.A.R. Acute III enters the big time, challenging player/DAC combos costing upwards of $80K with hugely realistic, intensely musical, digital reproduction. With more sophisticated sonics than I thought possible from CD reproduction, you'll enjoy high sampling rates up to 24/192 flawlessly produced. With an Alesis, MacBook, or server, get ready for the gorgeous sound of live performances. Vocal reproduction is unsurpassed. Bass power and focus is fantastic. The E.A.R. Acute III is most surely state of the art, and will be the player/DAC that all will be compared to—and, I suggest, will fall woefully short of, regardless of price.

My Aesthetix Romulus Eclipse has digital inputs and optional volume control.

I frequently use separate cd transports through it’s tubed dac section.