For <$500 budget, stand alone CD/DVD player is probably a much better choice than DAC/transport. You are less likely to get into trouble with the ever escalating upgrade game.
You can pick up a new Philips DVD player that has SACD for around $500 that is also a good sounding cd player. There are a few used Sony ES SACD player that can double as DVD player at that price range as well.
You can try the player out at your own home from a local dealer that has returned policy. Probably can compare a few player at the same time.
There is another crazy option. I assume that you have a computer with CD-ROM. Just rip all the CDs onto your HD in WAV format, get a good sound card with coaxial digital output and output the signal to your favorite DAC. Somewhat not audiophile but it could fun. Figure 600mb per CD. So you will need about 200GB for your average 300+ cd collection. This is probably a lot of work and more expensive, but it's possible to share the music through out the house easily with wireless network. Has anyone tried this before?
You can pick up a new Philips DVD player that has SACD for around $500 that is also a good sounding cd player. There are a few used Sony ES SACD player that can double as DVD player at that price range as well.
You can try the player out at your own home from a local dealer that has returned policy. Probably can compare a few player at the same time.
There is another crazy option. I assume that you have a computer with CD-ROM. Just rip all the CDs onto your HD in WAV format, get a good sound card with coaxial digital output and output the signal to your favorite DAC. Somewhat not audiophile but it could fun. Figure 600mb per CD. So you will need about 200GB for your average 300+ cd collection. This is probably a lot of work and more expensive, but it's possible to share the music through out the house easily with wireless network. Has anyone tried this before?