Recommendations for CD Player/DAC Combo

Lol.
Pretty sure Elizabeth is more than capable of defending herself here.
However I could not care less if she is female, male,  undecided or alien life form.
I call it as I see it no matter who says it.
No special treatment based on gender and I am pretty sure that is exactly as Elizabeth would like it.
So I truly do not believe anybody is just being nice to her at all.
Maybe nobody really cares enough to comment? Its her money and equipment and she is free to use it as she sees fit don't you think?
Not what I would do but we are not talking about me.....

I guess the majority of audiophiles are going with the Transport/DAC separates.  Has anyone personally compared the sound of the CD player/DAC separates to some really good one box combos?  Are there any hardcore purists who prefer the single component combo for sound quality?  

Is the sound difference worth having to provide extra shelf space and more cables?  The trend now seems to be building all these components into one multi tasking box.  

Thanks for the great responses.   

jl35,

RE: Older player as transport...

I have two Denon DVD 2900’s. Excellent transport into my PS Audio DACs (PW MK II DAC and now DirectStream DAC). They do develop some glitches with the disc drawers from time to time. One of mine fails to read discs after a while (after it gets nice and warmed up), but the other has never had any issues. These are built like a tank and were great performers for the $$ when new ($500 or so, I think). Anyway, they show up used from time to time and make great transports. Find one on the used market for cheap and give it a spin. [Edit: They were $999 back in the day: https://hometheaterhifi.com/volume_11_1/denon-dvd-2900-dvd-player-1-2004.html]

tyan42, FWIW I believe that the current interest in using seperate transports and DAC’s arises from the wide use of on-line sources which require a DAC. So if you had to get a DAC, why not get a transport. I do not use on line sources and have an extensive CD library so this is not an issue for me.

I have been using separates since the 90’s because they were better at the time (or so I thought). I have since acquired some fairly good CDP’s and I think the single units are clearly better, but as I said before with my Marantz, which has provision for other sources, I also use separate ’spinners’ much, but not all of, of the time. When I’m going to actually sit in the sweet spot and listen to music I use the CDP which serves the music best (CDP’s really do sound different from each other).

If I were starting over again I would get a quality CDP with inputs for other sources. I would not get separates, but I would use another spinner to reduce the wear on the CDP’s transport when appropriate as I have done. As Liz said earlier ’spinners’ do sound different. I find that my Onkyo 6 CD changer quite adequate for back-ground music as I do an old Cal Audio transport.

Bucking the general trend, just placed my order for a Bryston BCD-3.  Exclusively red-book; no digital inputs.  Just fine with me.

I was able to get a good deal on the Cambridge CXC transport and the Gustard X 10 DAC. A very nice combo. The X 10 actually sounds better than my Emotiva Stealth DAC.  Good listening!

Luxman D08U end of the road 

For uninterrupted back ground music I utilize an old Yamaha 5disc DVD/CD changer which I run via optical connection through my Oppo UDP205 to take advantage of its stellar DAC then analog out to my Mc gear. I’m glad I kept the player after all those years now with its new found sound. Never heard a complaint from anyone. :)

I have an idea/solution that no one has mentioned yet!  Buy a used Aurender A10 Music Server/DAC combo.  I saw one here the other day for less than $4k.  Not only will you now have an excellent streamer with access to Tidal (and complete MQA unfolding), you can also connect the A10's DAC to a cheap CD player via optical cable.  This operation effectively turns the CD player into a transport.

I stumbled upon this by reading a review of the A10 before I purchased one.  I use an old Pioneer 45A DVD/CD/SACD/ player which can be had for about $50 and a $25 optical cable.  I imagine that most sellers would leave their music files on the A10 so you should also inherit some new music.  So, for around $4k you have a killer CD player, a high-end streamer and a whole new world to explore!

If you can't afford the Rega Isis Valve, the Rega Saturn R is a really good compromise. I've owned mine for a couple of years and really enjoy it. MSRP is $3K and they are about half that on the used market. They sound really good, have lots of digital inputs and are built like a brick. Really enjoyable IMHO.

I got my  CD player Cary CD-303 years ago and about in year 2011 I got its DAC section faulty and not working. So purchased Bryston BDA-1 DAC to work with my Cary 303. Eve since I have been using my CD player Cary 303 as a transport and Bryston BDA-1 as a DAC and the combo work well for me till this date. The Bryston DAC also helps me to hook up any other digital source to it for nice DAC function and I find it very convenient .