How to get into high end digital? (Feeding a DAC)

Why Schiit or Topping? For less than $300 you can buy a Khadas 2 Tone Pro Dac that measures and sounds as good as any four-figure DAC! I own the earlier model, the KTB.

I am familiar with your Nak 5 disc CD player. The multiple disk was a nice feature, but it was not near as good as their Tape Decks, but the name sold it. If you want to keep playing your CD's, I would suggest getting a CD transport and feed it into a good DAC, you mentioned two good ones, but everyone has their favorite. However, if you want to get off of CD's, then buy either a Bluesound Vault or an Aurrender and burn them onto the hard drive. If you were used to loading the Nak and playing CD after CD, you will love being able to do it from your phone, laptop or iPad. I was 'talked' into the Bluesound 2 years ago and was glad I did, ever since then I never listen to my actual CD's. Also, the Vault and some of the Aurrenders will get you into streaming in a fast, easy way. Many opinions out there, so perhaps others will suggest otherwise, but this is what I did and it made getting into everything digital easy and quick, and I am still very happy.

You can use your Nakamichi's coax digital output into the DAC via a Monoprice digital cable.

There is only a red and a white RCA, and either it or the RCAs have tinny sound out of the RHS channel.
Hence no coax digital out (it is a last millennium unit).

... Any CD/DVD player can serve as a transport. No need to spend big bucks! They all output the same data stream! Jitter is a non-issue with modern DACs. No need for a separate - and expensive - clock! Jitter in even cheap CD/DVD players is inaudible.

Even if you were wrong, then if the DAC buffers the samples, so we should end with jitter free output after the DAC?? (Right?)

Why Schiit or Topping? For less than $300 you can buy a Khadas 2 Tone Pro Dac that measures and sounds as good as any four-figure DAC! I own the earlier model, the KTB.

I dunno…
If we trust specs, then they are demonstrably good…

But I’ll look at that Khadas 2. Thanks!

Over a few years I have trialed approx' 12 Digital COAX Cables all between 0.7mtr and 0.9mtr in length in Silver and Copper Signal Wiring and in a price range between £70 and £500.
Some are Branded and some have been custom made but produced to be marketed.
I have found Copper to be the most attractive in my set up, and chose a cheaper copper signal wire cable over a very expensive silver signal wire cable.
It then evolved to a Copper Ribbon replacing a Copper Wire and more recently it evolved into a D.U.C.C 7N Pure Copper Wired Cable replacing the Copper Ribbon.
There is one thing that is quite noticeable from my trials and recollections of these different cables, and that is the COAX Cable can make a CDT > DAC coupling a very attractive source when the Cable is discovered that produces an ideal interface and SQ for the end user.

@pindac How does it work?
I would expect that the digital bit stream would have to be altered?
or
That there is some ground loop or some other thing happening that is not part of bit stream, but affecting the analogue portion of the DAC?