Old Philips CD as transport or new playe

Seldenr - I am currently in a similar quandry - my current player (CAL Icon MkII) is roughly the same age, and sounds so good I hate to give it up. My feeling is to go the DAC route. You can get alot of DAC for 800-1000. If you hate the way the transport works/sounds ... look for a used player or dedicated transport later to replace the Philips. You see alot of Theta gear on this site at unreal low prices. Good luck.

Seldener & Slingshot: I use the Icon MKII as a transport with the Bel Canto DAC and it sounds great. Out of curiosity I tried a friends new/used Meridian 506.24 player as a transport and could just detect a little more definition in the bass and mid bass, but it was very slight indeed and really could not hear a difference in the mids and highs. I have also been tempted by the Theta transports, which are said to wonderfull, but have decided to wait and see if SACD takes off. If it does I will trade the CAL for an SACD player and use the BC to improve its standard CD playack. If SACD flunks out then I will probably end up trying one of the Theta's. The addition of a good DAC (one that I enjoy the sound of) though has been one of the best upgrades that I have done. Regardless of which amp I use in the system (I switch between SS and tubes) it always sounds great.