New CD player or new external DAC ?

Perhaps I should ask this way: For the same amount of money (say $700-$1000) would I get a bigger upgrade by buying a CD player for that amount, or keeping my Arcam as a transport and spending that full budget on an external DAC ( and in this case, I'm looking at the Bryston) ?

I would get a recent used CDP. Avoid having to buy a digital cable and hoping the Arcam keeps working. And lots of newer CDP's have computer connectivity if that is an issue. There are also many who feel the transport is just as important as the DAC, and that the connection between transport and DAC can cause other problems.

Can you "borrow" some CD or DVD players and DACS to try out in your home system. Take some home, connect them and A/B compare them with your existing equipment to hear the difference in your system for yourself. First, borrow a decent DAC and try it. If you don't care about USB capability, try a used Theta DS Pro Gen VA DAC. You would be hard pressed to find another DAC out there that can out perform this unit. Then find some other CD players or DVD players to use as transports only. examples will be Pioneer Elite DV09, DV 79AVi, etc. use as transport only. They are actually very wonderful sounding into a good DAC. You can do this on the cheap. DV 09 or DV 79AVi run about $250 to $300 used and are hard to beat at a stand alone transport. Most people got rid of them because they wanted the newer bells and whistles, such as USB or Blue Ray capability. But, if you want a CD transport only, well... these are hard to beat. But, I suggest borrowing some first and hearing them in your system. CD transport and/or DAC.

enjoy

Getting a CDP is an act of discipline.
Getting a DAC is going to add to your audio nervosa.
:-)

All the best,
Nonoise