dedicated cd player or dvd-cd

What tube dacs do you folks recommend ?

I can recommend the mhdt Paradisea and vouch for many of the good things others have said about it if you do a google search on it.

Who sells the Paradisea ?

If it is 'new' perhaps it needs some time - say 100-200 hours. CD players can sound quite different once they've been played a bit; usually it is a noticeable improvement with brightness diminishing and a more fully formed body of music emerging, including improved bass. Can't hurt to run it 24/7 for a week or so and see what happens.

Also, try placing it on some brass footers like Mapleshade footers or the footers offered by Herbies Audio Labs. These, too, usually bring a noticeable improvement.

So, time and tweaking may be your first step before replacing it.

You'll find mhdt DACs listed on ebay by the maker. They are made in Taiwan I believe, and seem to have a lot of satisfied US customers.

I picked up both my Paradisea (tube) and Constantine (SS equivalent) second hand here on Agon.