Are DACs superior to top-graded regular CD Players

Just to add to what I said above Warmglowingtubesart.
Get the best sounding cd player you can get, with a digital input, that way you can use it as a dac as well for computer/server based music, that way you'll have the best of both worlds.

Cheers George

Georgelofi:

"The other one that not many know of is there are two clocks, one in the transport and one in the dac, and they are not sync'd to each other.
In a stand alone CD player there is one clock that serves both transport and dac section so they are sync'd together."

Exactly right!

I have never found separate DACs superior.

Remember if you choose a dac you need something to feed it, such as a computer or transport or streaming device. Those devices also have a big influence on the sound. It seems most design work is going towards dacs and not cd players. The reason for this is the future of music playback is streaming. If you have a lot of CDs you need a transport or cd player or rip all your cds to a computer. I have 5000cds but almost all of my current listening is streaming Tidal from my laptop to my dac. Sounds great
Alan

I agree with George about the advantages of a transport and dac combo. I have a highly modified 47 Labs Flatfish transport that has seen many a dac over the last 7 years. Every dac put with it sounded very good due to the upgraded clock, black gates in the internal power supply, and a robust battery power supply with a bank of BG caps before the output stage.
My 2c

As George commented on, I have eschewed a separate dac or transport/dac combo & own a Vitus SCD-025Mk2 which is a pretty awesome dac & does DSD. I still like to spin cd's, so it is great that the player also has a very good transport. 2nd hand cd players with good dacs and transports which come to mind are the Reimyo CDP-777 & Accuphase DP-75V. Even the very inexpensive JVC XL-Z1050 is a good integrated player with some minimal upgrades like caps, iso feet (eg: Stillpoints Ultra Mini's) & a Furutech IEC.