Best Cd player 1000.00 range used as transport ?

Sean- I can't disagree with that logic- there are some very good older dacs. Actually, i heard form a guy I trust that the Manley Reference dac (not sold anymore, and retailed for, like big bucks) is superb- you're right, due to proper power supply; and overall build quality; etc. I guess I wasn't taking price into account either. Well, we all make choices- mine was the older transport to go with a newer dac, for someone else the reverse might work- as long as the music flows, all is good!

I prefer the sound of my old dac (Micromega Duo BS 2) to the analog out of the Sony SCD-C555ES. I use the Sony as a transport as I need a changer. The Sony feeds an AA DTI Pro. All cables are Harmonic Tech. The Micromega had a little more "body" to it. The Sony may not have been completely broken in when I compared them.

Buy a good dedicated transport. I started 8 years ago with a Cal Delta transport and changed to use dvd players. First a Pioneer DV-414 then to the DV-333 then the DV-343. The Cal sounded close enough to the Pioneer DVD players. I now just bought a Proceed CDD transport for $900.00 and what a hugh differance in sound. My first Dac was a Theta Cobolt, then the PS Audio Ultralink II dac and now the Audio Note DAC 1.1x. All were tried on the before mentioned transports and the Proceed, by a large margin, sounds the best.