Good cd player and a great DAC or great cd player?

Consciousness, Yes you did answer your own question : ) If you get an Audio Note DAC and any transport you can then upgrade the DAC (or transport) over time as you see fit. I have the AN 2.1x Balanced DAC and it was a great discovery. I love it! There are a few used available here on Audiogon right now. I have an Accustic Arts transport on order.

Thanks for the kind word, Conscious. Your question required me to get my own ideas together, and I enjoyed my shot at that.

I see that you have already done a great deal of good research. Your upgrade path makes sense, certainly. May I say, though, that unless you know you will be coming into money, at the moment it is more fun than serious? I had my own upgrade path all planned out too. I had the amp, I had the preamp, speakers were narrowed down to only five or six choices, I knew what was next. Then UPS put a spell on me for more than six months with their horrible claims process. Then I made a friend whose second-string preamp blew my first-string, preamp-for-a-thousand-years, right out of the water. Then... well, my upgrades since then have depended on serendipity and my own ears, and I no longer know what's next except in a "that's-nice-in-principle" sort of way.

It takes a long time to get used to changes in your music system. A new component can make you want to listen to every piece of your software twice over again. That's the very best part. When that happens, I realize that other people are way ahead of me, some manufacturers especially, and I will be upgrading till the day I leave the planet.

It's great that you already have a component to shoot for ( the AN DAC ). If you can't go for your Audio Note 2.1 now, though, how long can you wait and still spend time with music at home happily? Dwyoung and Dmitydr suggest a good reason for a one-box for now. I understand what you say about the two entry-level players I suggested, and I don't think they would sound lots different in your own system ( try to evaluate new components with what you have whenever possible ). You might consider a used Shanling CD-T100, there are some deals here at the moment ;-).

Thanks again for your input. I certainly have come across the "best laid plans", challenge. I was recently offered a Jadis Integrated Orchestra amplifier at a very, very good price and I'm finding it hard to stick to upgrade path. My path is based more on principles than components right now. Certainly, I could take a giant step and select 3 components at my intial upgrade phase but that would upset the budget - read wife. I am therefore consigned to upgrading a piece at a time. What may present as a great speaker now, might seem less so down the road when I upgrade that component. Therefore, I get to continue enjoying the journey while saving for my next purchase.

As far as falling into money - that's unlikely. However, if I can save about $160 a month, I'm able to meet my 20k objective in about 10 years. I don't plan to wait that long to drop the money - I enjoy the tinkering too much - but given my income, I don't think it will be a challenge. This means a new source this year, integrated amp the following, speakers the following, etc. If I'm able to purchase wisely, then I hope to lose only about 15% on resale of my used equipment. Therefore while spending 20k, I hope, in the end to be able to purchase gear for around 17k. But if someone makes me an offer I can't refuse....

Unless you are planning on buying one of the more expensive universal players, such as the Denon and replacing all of your CD's with SACD or DVD-Audio disks, I would recommend buying a top of line used DVD player, such as a Sony DVP-S7700 and get it modded. Then use this as a transport for both audio and movies with a good DAC, such as a modded Perpetual Technologies P-3A. No off-the-shelf CDP will match this kind of performance. You can buy both on Audiogon for about $700. The mods will cost you around $1800.

My husband and I are in a similar situation with the upgrade plan and limited cash flow.

We upgrading our source now. I had planned on getting a CD player, but I listed to a lot and only really liked the $3.5k Linn Ikemi. Instead, we are trying out a Bel Canto DAC 2 ($850 dealer demo) and building a PC based transport (my husband is a computer scientist, so this appeals to him). Parts are on their way, so I don't know the verdict yet.

Just a thought for you...

We had planned on buying an integrated amp until we discovered Outlaw Audio. We have their 950 pre-amp and 7 monoblocks. It cost us less than $3k and sounds a lot better that all the integrated amps we listed to in that price range. They only sell online (www.outlawaudio.com), and their prices are amazing for what you get.

Good luck!

Joy Elyse