Ruminations On CD Players

The only real plus for separates is ease of upgrade but plenty of people believe that separates of any type (pre-amp/amp vs integrated) will sound better but without a way to verify it. Of course the huge negative is cost as well as more connection points to introduce noise. 

Try the new Schiit "URD" CD transport (just released, USA made of course) as they seem to know what they're doing, and if you use it with the Bifrost 2/64 (I have one...sounds excellent) you can utilize their own "unison" USB connection and get there for 2100 bucks or so. 

Other posters have made the same points, but my two cents:

1) The DAC is the main determinant of the sound. Transports matter, but imo the DAC/transport ratio is 80/20 in terms of ultimate SQ. I have had good DACs make average transports sound better, but not the reverse

2) DACs are more durable than transports. No laser, no disc spinning mechanism to misfire, no tray or door issues.

3) should you decide to explore streaming in the future, you can get a relatively cheap streamer, pair it with a good DAC, and have excellent results.

4) used DACs tend to be more durable then used CDPs for all the above reasons.

5) you can use any old CDP as a transport as long as it has digital outs. Perhaps your old Arcam can still function as a transport. You can always upgrade to a different transport later

If your budget was around $3K I would spend around $2500 for the DAC, new or used, and the rest on the transport.

Pro-ject has some well regarded transport and DAC choices if you desire matchy-matchy:  DS2T Transport - $899; S2+ DAC -$399; RS2T Transport - $3199; RS2 DAC -$2249.  (Maybe a little weird that they don’t have any DACs in range between $399 and $2249 - I think they used to.)

Plenty of options - Get an old Rotel and have the parts upgraded along with the laser if you want really good sound but don't want to spend too much.  Or get an old Cary 306SACD model and have that upgraded.  Once that is upgraded it will complete with much higher priced DACs for a ton less in standard Rebook CD sound.  We were amazed how good it sounded compared to DACs like the Mola-Mola, Kasandra, etc.

Happy Listening.