dedicated cd player or dvd-cd

California Audio Labs CL-15 sounds wonderful, rich, and organic, although it's missing some of the high frequency sparkle. Sony PS1, if you can get over the flimsy and cheap looking case, can bring wonders for mere $50 or less. Or if your budget allows, Sony XA5400ES at ~$1300 is probably at the top of the price/performance curve, before the heavy downslope diminishing return kicks in.

The only DVD/CD player I've experienced that did both well is Arcam. There obviously may be others which do both well. I found DVD players to sound agressive and grainy with a high sizzle factor compared to dedicated CD players.

Considering your considerable investment in 2 channel gear, I would suggest a dedicated CD player.

I love my Muse model 9 sig3 DVD and CD both sound amazing and the picture is superb. You could probably pick one up for under $1000.

What is your budget?

My Marantz DVD player does pretty well. Running it 2 -channel via external stereo tube DAC drastically changes the sound in a way that will appeal more to tube lovers.

For multi-channel A/V however, the tube DAC I am using will not support other digital formats beyond 2 channel stereo that are multi-channel digital formats out of the DVD player player however. There may be other external DACs that do, not sure about that.