Decided to change my cd player, suggestions please?

I just went through this process of replacing a CD player.  I listened to the following:

Yamaha CD-S2100
Marantz SA8005
Marantz CD 6006
Atoll CD 200SE
Simaudio Neo 260D

I could have lived with any of the above but in the end it was a run off between the Atoll and the Simaudio.  I was able to A/B them on my system which was a bit of a pain as they have slightly different live level output levels which required adjusting volume for fairness.

In the end the Simaudio won out.  I liked the horn sound better and the bass was a little tauter (although I felt the Atoll went deeper).  The build was better for the Simaudio in particular the CD tray was far more robust. The clinchers were the 10 year warranty for the Simaudio (2 years on the tray) along with their trade up program (up to 100% in the first year).

I would buy a nice dac and keep your CD player as the transport.   This will give you the upgrade in sound quality you want since you have just replaced the audio processor in the cd player with something presumably newer and better.  And you will be able to use the dac with other devices like phones, tablets, computers, etc. for streaming or Hi-Rez music files.  I use an external DAC to decode a coax feed from an Oppo Blu-ray player, and my dac has an additional optical input and a USB input for switching between other connected devices. When im not using the Oppo, I can plug my phone into the USB input and stream hi res Internet radio stations. Love the flexibility. 

I was in the market for a new CD Player last year after my Cambridge Audio went south. I’ve got a Bryston BDA-1 DAC and tried using my Oppo as a transport but it just didn’t sound anywhere near as good as the Cambridge Transport and Bryston DAC.
When I decided to get a new CD player I planned to just get something less expensive and use my old DAC. I tried several "Transports" including an Emotive but ended up getting a Simaudio Neo260D with the optional $1000DAC card installed. When I listened to the DAC in the 260D, it simply blew me away how much better it sounded compared to the Bryston. I sold the Bryston and bought the Simaudio with the optional DAC installed at the factory.
You can’t beat the quality, warranty and trade-up policy Simaudio offers.
Yes, an Esoteric might edge it out but without a long factory warranty it’s an expensive boat anchor IMHO if something breaks. Why do you think there are so many for sale?
Try to find a Simaudio 260D used....not likely unless the owner is trading up to a 650D or something even more exotic and costly.
I’m using a Simaudio 700i amplifier with Focal Sopra2 speakers and the sound is just magic. Very musical with tremendous air, and 3D transparency that almost sounds like analog. Almost!...
Check out the TAS review and others available online.

i had decided to give an ayon cd7 an inhome trial for 15 days and see how that goes, simaudio players I have looked at but the ones I have seen in my price range did NOT have balanced xlr outputs?
not sure if the 260d does or its price, will have to research that
thank you

I will be picking up my ModWright Marantz player next week and will post my impressions.  I have also been a fan of Dan's work and this will be my third player and I will be looking forward to some Tidal steaming via the usb input to the DAC.