Considering buying a CD transport

cooper52,
For a great cd transport the 47 Labs Flatfish is a good choice. I have mine modified with a super clock and custom battery power supply. I have yet to hear anything better including computer audio. Unfortunately mine is in a box since I lost my listening room. At your limit of 2k you could find one used. 
Ask around on other forums like Audio Circle about the Cyrus your considering.

@nonoise  thanks for the link that Sparkler stuff looks very cool and cheap to boot!

Cooper52, I initiated a thread with the intent on focus toward CD players that make for good transport. Now thinking it to be overly redundant with this thread. I wish to defer to yours and will say so in my thread.

I would think that the Cambridge CXC would serve better than the 751BD for CD playback. This I don't know as fact, however if true I would like to hear further from others as to the reasons. 

Cooper52 6-15-2016 3:05 pm EDT
My current disc spinner is a Cambridge Audio 751BD which I’m now mostly (except for SACDs) using as a transport, as I vastly prefer the sound of my Bryston BDA1 DAC to what comes through the CA. Even through the Bryston DAC, CDs can sound shrill. The CA works extremely well for DVDs, Blu-ray discs and SACDs, but I don’t think I’m enjoying my rather extensive CD collection as I should.... The rest of the system: ... Hegel H200 integrated.... Nordost coax.

So it sounds like you have the analog outputs of the player connected to the integrated amp, and the coaxial S/PDIF output of the player connected to the DAC, with the analog outputs of the DAC connected to the integrated amp.

I’m thinking that a simple experiment that may be worth trying would be listening to CDs with the analog outputs of the 751BD disconnected. I’m envisioning the possibility that having both digital and analog connections between the player and other components in the system might be conducive to ground loop effects that would cause or contribute to jitter in the DAC. And in fact I can recall a thread here a few years ago in which the sonic issues that were being addressed turned out to be the result of having multiple connections between components.

If that reduces the problem to a satisfactory degree, we can discuss further how to implement a permanent solution.

Also, I’ll second the earlier suggestions that it may be worthwhile trying a different length and type of digital cable, even a much less expensive one.

Good luck. Regards,
-- Al

Here’s the present hookup: Nordost digital coax between the CA and the Bryston DAC, Audioart XLR between DAC and amp, plus Clarus Aqua RCAs between the CA and the amp for the express purpose of playing SACDs (the Bryston DAC doesn’t handle DSD). Per your suggestion, Al, I’ve done some experimenting with different combinations of the above, including disconnecting the RCAs. If that made any difference, I couldn’t hear it, but just for fun I did some A/B testing between XLR and RCA (those same Clarus Aquas) connections from DAC to amp, and I suppose it’s no surprise that the XLR won that contest hands-down. Next step, I guess, is to try some other digital cables and see if that has the desired effect. That’s an experiment that has the potential to get pretty expensive.