bobheinatz OPThank you for all that contributed to this thread. I have decided to buy a nice DAC and dedicated transport. I will be looking at Dac’s in the $5k - $8k range.
For the DAC you can’t go past this then "at any price" for your 500+ CD’s , the "Holo May" R2R Multibit, Stereophile said it one of the best they’ve ever measured /heard. Then you’ve got $3k for a good transport, which is plenty.
https://www.stereophile.com/content/holoaudio-may-level-3-da-processor
Cheers George