what are the Best Direct to amps Digital Players ?

I'm a little confused here. Basically - with a few exceptions - there are: (1) CD players, (2) 2 channel CD/SACD players, and (3) Universal players. It is my understanding the Ayon 2 is a CD player, as is the Romulus.

In any event, if you have some serious money to spend, and want to go the Universal players route here is what you could do. Get the spanking new MSB Universal Media Transport (UMT) plus and an MSB DAC. This transport will connect to the DAC via I2S over a piece of CAT6 wire. You'll also need one of the MSB powersupplies.

Depending on what level DAC you buy you can spend between $20,000 and $50,000 on this three piece stack. It will give you the best DAC around (according to many), play every disc on the planet, and serve as a music streamer. You can do multi channel and video as well.

While not a single component, they are thee neatly stacked chassis, and since the DAC has volume control you won't need an extra set of expensive analog cabling.

I will be auditioning an MSB UMT plus transport myself shortly - not for CDs (I ripped my entire collection), but as a network streamer for 2 channel, and a disc spinner for Multi-channel (SACD / Blu Ray).

You can also look into the boulder 1021

The Romulus looks very interesting. Audiolabyrinths aspirations for a single box transport / DAC resonates with many audiophiles who are trying to keep the box count down!

@ Edorr, Hi, Sorry about the confusion,$20,000 to $50,000 is out of my price reach for digital!,the Boulder 1021 has been out for a long time, I did not know it had volume control?, Thankyou for patiently putting up with me, you are a gentleman indeed,The Ayon 2s is a cd player, it is not red book only player, it plays CDRs but not sacd, I am confused about the Romulus, Do you beleieve it plays more than red book only?, the specs say it plays red book only on the transport, I really do not know what their version of red book is, to me, thats standard cds, nothing else, I would like a player that plays most of todays modern medias, A cd player or a cd/sacd player, this Romulus is a great recommendation!, maybe I should give them a call next week to see if their player can play my cds, CDRs that are recorded really good!, and, of course I have standard cds, The CDrs are dvd a audio and 24/192 cdrs,, My price range can go up to retail 13,000.00, ,like most audiophiles, used is good to, try to save money is always nice, Edorr, My member friends believe your recommendation of the Romulus is more my tast the the Esoteric K-03 in sound, these are the two so far on top of my list amongst others, what do you think of this new esoteric K series sound?,, cheers.

I have owned two. EAR Acute and now Ancient Audio. Both are excellent tube based players, but the Ancient Audio actually includes a pre-amp circuit with additional inputs.