Emotiva ERC-3 or Music Hall C-DAC15.3 / connections?

Yeah, the Music Hall is VERY sparse internally. In addition, they have two completely separate DAC chips, I/V stages and clock sections. They are probably thinking that the Burr Brown sounds better for 16 bit CD source and the Wolfson does better for hi-res and everything else. It’s just an added expense for you. Each of these sections has its own completely isolated power supply (a wasted cost in my opinion). The power supplies are very sparse as well. My guess is that this is not going to sound as full and nice as the Emotiva.

One thing I like about Emotiva is that their designs are very good. The choices they make about how they design the actual circuits show a lot of thought. They just use lower cost components (electrolytic and film capacitors, op amps, etc.). The power supply section is very beefy and can supply a lot of current. The result is something that is very nice for the amount you spend on it, but there are always better equipment at a higher price, lol.

Upgrading the electrolytic/film caps as well as upgrading the output buffer op amps will give you an excellent CD source. Bump up the main power supply caps to as large as you can, upgrade all caps to Nichicon Muse or KW. Upgrade op amp negative feedback film caps to film-on-foil (Kemet PFR). Upgrade output op amps to Sparkos discrete op amps.

I took a quick look at your Anthem MRX 710 AVR.  If you are wanting an analog CD player, make sure to set the "Process Analog Audio Input" to NO and "Anthem Room Correction" to NO.  This will disable any digital processing and do a pure analog "pass through" in your Anthem.

If you want to use Anthem Room Correction and/or a subwoofer with your CD player, you might be better off getting a CD transport such as the Cambridge CXC and connect it to a COAX digital input on the Anthem.  If you like the DACs in your Anthem, this might be a better way to "play" your CDs.

Yes, the Music Hall is still very sparse.  You need to take that single circuit board and chop it in half.  The left side is the power supply, DAC and I/V stage for the digital inputs.  The right side is the power supply, DAC and I/V stage for the CD drive.  The hidden board under the drive is just the digital controller for the CD drive itself.

In the Emotiva ERC-3 picture, the power supply comprises the large circuit board on the left side of the player.  The top right contains the DAC and I/V stage.  The top middle contains the output buffer stages.  The emotive is hiding it's CD driver controller board.  Also, the Emotiva has metal shielding between power supply / drive / DAC modules.

This may push your budget, but you could look at Marantz offerings.  There are a couple items for sale on audiogon.  A Marantz SA8005 and a UD7007.  Both have discrete output stages (no op amps), and will probably sound much better than the Emotiva or Music Hall.  The SA8005 also has digital inputs and can act as a DAC.