Do I really need a Dac?

I would say yes, but there's only 1 way to find out . . .

a cd player has a dac, so the question is , can you find a dac and transport combination that perorms better than a cd player at a price point ?

Like most questions on these forums, yours does not have a definitive answer.

As Mrtennis said, if you have a CD player you already have a DAC. The questions then are whether the DAC you now have inside your CD player sounds as good to you as any external DAC you might buy instead, whether the rest of your system is resolving enough to let you hear the difference and whether or not any difference you hear is worth the additional cost of the new DAC.

My experience is that the reason there are lots of new DAC's available isn't because they're 'hot' right now but because that's where the R&D is being done and where the greatest technological improvements are being made. Of course there's marketing hype but that's the case with every other kind of audio gear, as well.

Only one way to find out if one works for you.
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The question isn't "Do I need a DAC?", of course you don't NEED a DAC or most other stuff for that matter.
The question is "Do I want a DAC?". Only you can answer that question.

I think you should get a Schidt Bitfrost from Audio Advisor and audition it for 30 days. You can return it for free, and it's a very good DAC at the $400 level.