Please Recommend Transport + DAC for $5K total

For a CD transport, I would highly recommend the belt drive CEC TL-5 that I have (around $2000). The Audio Note CDT Zero is another option to consider. A good transport, with a high grade mechanism, will definitely be an improvement over using a CD player for transport duty.

As far as a digital cable, the Cerious Technologies Graphene Extreme ($200) is hard to beat.

For the DAC, I’d definitely go NOS, like the AN DAC o.1x or 1.1x.

@melm - the pink faun i2s models that include a hdmi-to-rj45 “single-ended” cable for a specific dac are $515.  The models without a cable are $330.  I think the pink faun cables are supposed to be really nice, so $185 for a custom i2s digital cable is not out of the realm of possibilities.  The custom hdmi-to-hdmi cable (with balanced digital) would be a tough one to make with all the wires needed.  And every DAC almost has their own hdmi i2s pin configuration.  Ugh!  Anyways, im sure it will be better than coax spdif, which is a single wire.

i don’t think many know about this card because they don’t really focus on a computer for a music server.  Many just use USB because it’s already there.  And the usb interface is industry standard, not like the vendor custom i2s interfaces, lol.  How many people do you know that actually use a SOTM USB card?  Probably more than pink faun, but it’s still a minority.

Direct i2s is still the way to go and better than spdif or usb because the systems do not have to wrap/unwrap the i2s data like they do with usb/spdif.  I’ll just have to do some experimenting.  I don’t do DSD right now, so anything will be an improvement.  Like I said, it’s possible that JRiver will send DOP (DSD-over-PCM) through this i2s card.  If it does, it’s a bonus for me.  I can always just use the usb if I decided to run any DSD files.

for my current system, the coax spdif sounds better than usb.  Spdif has more resolution, detail, bite to the music.

i have heard upsampling and it tends to smooth out the tones, gives a little less actual resolution/texture in my opinion, so I always prefer to run the DAC at the original source file sample rate.

Other matters have unavoidably  pulled me away from this thread but I do appreciate all the input-- collectively, you've provided a lot of info to chew over! 

Not many choices for gear I can try out at home and return, if necessary. A Cambridge CXC and Schiit Gumby looks like a good pair to try. I've read that the DAC section in the Simaudio Neo 260D is comparable to the stand alone Neo 280D-- not sure how accurate this claim is, but the Neo 260 looks very attractive. I've e-mailed Simaudio, asking about this.  Unfortunately, I can't bring one home. While I could lug my Wells amp, Silverline monitors, and CDP to the dealer in S.F., given the insane Bay Area traffic, and my inability to factor in the influence of the dealer's room, that option is not exactly a siren song. Has anybody here used the CXC + Gumby combination???