Recommendations for CD Player/DAC Combo

Stretch your budget to a pre-owned REGA ISIS Valve cdp/DAC?

There was much more choice as recently as two years ago.  The precipitous decline in CD sales is one reason that manufacturers stopped making them.  The other is that Oppo really dominated that market niche, and their decision to pull out left a void.
   At your budget the best option would be a dedicated transport and DAC, such as the Cambridge Audio transport That goes for around $500 combined with DACs from the likes of Mytek, Benchmark, Schitt and others that sell for around 2K.  You could also use something like a Blu Rayor DVD as a CD transport.  Sony Blu Rays can be had for under $100 and are very slim, if space is a consideration.
  Sony makes a Universal disc spinner for around $400 that plays everything and has gotten decent reviews.  I think it’s DAC can be accessed.  There is a Marantz SACD/CD player four around 2 K that I think has an accessible DAC

Why would anyone buy an expensive CD player and just use the dac portion with a cheap player.?  It’s like buying a Corvette and putting retread tires on it.  I have an 8.5K Esoteric SACD Player which I use daily and wouldn’t think of attaching a cheap player to it.  Of course Esoteric builds their own transports was Which in my case is the VRDS NEO transport and they don’t wear out.  To each his/ her own but you are defeating the purpose of superior sound.  What are you saving the transport for and when do you feel it will be ok to use if ever?