Better cd SQ

+1 for the Denafrips Pontus II. I have had mine 3 years and it has performed flawlessly while sounding amazing. IMO, a high quality external DAC is definitely the way to go instead of a new CDP for future upgrades and flexibility. I listen almost exclusively to CDs with occasional streaming. I have both my Bluesound Node 2i streamer and my newly acquired Jays Audio CDT2 MK3 transport plugged into the Pontus II. I highly agree with @baylinor regarding the significant SQ improvement of the Jay’s Audio over my previous transport and the value of upgrading transports if you listen to a lot of CDs.

+1 mksun for Jay’s.  Just installed Jay’s CDT 3 MK3 transport into my wife’s system and it is revelatory.  Never experienced a transport with such detail, sound stage and overall authority.  Previously, best transport was a CEC belt drive.  And it was quite good….until its demise.

Mojo Mystique 3, Luxman 509X, ATC 20 passive plus other good stuff.

 @corelli +1

@nic919 not every DAC is going to sound the same and you may be left wanting by simply just taking someone else's random "I own and like". Define for yourself what sound characteristics are important to you and then research off of that to find DACs with that general profile.

+1 @facten @corelli

@nic919 If you’re comfortable with trying a couple of very different dacs on credit with fair return policies, then your best bet is to sample them with a well made digital coax cable. At least to experiment and find where improvements occur relative to your setup. It’s always a bit of a gamble, but you don’t know what will work until you try it. Logic has it that transports these days will -in general- render better results, but many CD players also do a very decent job of clocking and signal isolation for their digital output stages.

Regardless, so much of this is about learning to associate these characteristics described by others with what you are already hearing in your own system - hence trial and error.

Best of luck and enjoy the music 🙏🏼👍🏼

Someone mentioned the Denon DCD-A110. 

while a stunning player, in no universe can it be found for anything close to $2,000.