Portable CD Player with Digital out

I have lookd and looked for a portable CD player w/a digital out, but the only one I ever knew of, and once owned, was the original Radio Shack Optimus 3400, or whatever the model no. was, that Sam Tellig and everyone raved about back in the early 90's. I used to use that CD player w/a DAC-Man from Audio Alchemy in a little system in my kitchen. The Optimus eventually stopped running and the new models at Radio Shack didn't have the digital out anymore. Everytime i check portables at Circuit City, Best Buy, or the Shack, I find none w/a digital out. Maybe this thread will turn up something.

Buckingham, for those portable questions, you should visit www.head-fi.org. To answer your questions based on my limited experiences, SONY's DE7xx or better do have digital out. Most of Pana don't, in US market. But again, I would recommend simpler config, namely SONY D-25S, which is 12 years old model but/therefore VERY good sounding DAC inside with all metal chassis. Not suitable for actual portable purposes. You can find it on eBay from Silicon Salvage without headphone or AC/DC adapter or battery at $45. Real bargain. I am using it in my den through ASL's MG Head, but not much difference sound quality from its headphone jack. Ken

Try minidisco.com. They specialize in MiniDisc equipment and often carry portable CD players with optical outs to carry a digital signal to the MiniDisc recorders.

I found some Sony Discmans that have optical outs. I will get one of those and a nice cheap DAC that supports optical digital input and a good headphone amp and some Senn 600's. This should do the trick. I do believe that the outboard DAC is necessary because the internal DACs in those portable units are CRAP. Thanks for the tips everybody.

Yep Sony DEJ721 has a digital out. Check out the posted Take-it-with-you system bellow and everything will clear up to you.