Is a transport/DAC combo better than a CD player

it seems that this is a rhetorical question .

of course , it is possible that either separates will be preferred to a one box player or some one box player will be preferred to separates. there are many variables, taste being one of them.

my favorite digital source of all time is the naim cd x of 1994.

With separates, the addition of a digital cable introduces another headache in trying to find the perfect cable that will keep up with the dac.

Ebkesq posted in 2005 that DACs at that time have eliminated with jitter. It's 2011 now, and in my experience, when a DAC has a reclocker and buffer, that's just to not introduce any jitter into the system. The marketing department will claim zero jitter, but in reality if you feed the DAC a high jitter signal it will result in sound degradation/artifacts.

I have used players that beat combos, and combos that beat players. Much depends on the quality of the components and the cables used.

You do not necessarily need a high end transport to get extremely good results. You happen to have a player that I also own. I have used the 2900 with the Opamp enhanced Eastern Electric Minimax DAC (reviewed) and have had good enough results that to my ears it bests a few $1,500-5K players/combos and even beyond that I've compared directly.

Now, if the transport is upgraded, this also can be efficacious. I just this weekend have been listening to a player which I am considering buying. I have tried it last night as a transport to the EE DAC and it's a marked improvement, however it's also quite a bit more money than the 2900. I would not overweight the importance of either the transport or the DAC; both are critical to the sound of the digital media. You short one end of the combo and you'll pay by being shorted on the sound.

The digital cable is also of importance, but I certainly would not suggest it being more or less important than these other elements. The transport, digital cable and DAC are all critical to achieving the ultimate result - I've used multiples of all of them to arrive at that conclusion. It is very helpful to have on hand two or three digital cables/interconnects which can be used to experiment in finding a pleasing sound. I have found typically the AES/EBU link to be the best if available. Barring that the next best link would be the coax. digital (S/PDIF).

If you wish to discuss the use of the 2900 with the Minimax further feel free to email me.