what are the Best Direct to amps Digital Players ?

Hi Audiolabyrinth,
At first, I found you a bit annoying, then I found you a bit hilarious, then I found you to be, like myself, a bona fide audio nutcase. And there is no cure for that for the both of us.
And because we share this last trait, I would like to offer my most humble suggestion to alleviate your conundrum.
You already have a fantastic Krell power amp. So, why not go all Krell to optimise the CAST connection? Buy a Krell Cipher CD/SACD player new($10k list, if I am not mistaken) but get a used Krell pre-amp to go with your power amp. Sell your super expensive Tara IC to be replaced with CAST cables that won't cost an arm and a leg. You should be in sonic nirvana with this all Krell-and-CAST setup.
Cheers!

@ jon2020, I agree!, the exception would be still use what I already own with the exspensive taralabs cables, BTw, Tara makes cast cables to use for krell products! you cannot blame a guy for tring!, I know I am crazy, I mean who in the hell spends this kind of money to enjoy music?, I would laugh too!, Me and the wife have thought serious of doing some cast connections, and a top of the brand krell pre-amp, settle for nothing less!, It would take one awsome pre-amp to better running direct to amp!, I would not knock it to you live with it,BTW, Have you listened to a cipher krell cd-player?, what are your impressions?, Do you own any krell products?, thankyou very much!, I do feel like I am going crazy tring to build this stupid stereo!

I am not sure if I misinterpreted something posted above. But if I did then maybe others did as well.

For the record: My Romulus plays CD-Rs (16/44.1) very well. I am spinning a homemade compilation disk as I type.

Audiolabyrinth,
I have always been enamored of Krell amps. The Krell products I have owned in the past are the junior integrated amps, the 300i and its progeny the 400. The reason why I never upgraded to the bigger amps is that they are pure Class A, which means putting out a lot of heat and at the same time emptying my wallet for the monthly electricity bill even at idle, which could otherwise go towards buying more music.
I have not heard the Cipher but the Evo model before it sounded gorgeous in the showroom. The Stereophile review of the Cipher awarded it Class A as you already know.
You can just get the Cipher with the stock Krell CAST cables. The CAST connection with a used Krell KCT preamp(also very well received by the pros) may just be the ticket to audio nirvana. Well, it's either that or sonic hell but I very much doubt it could ever be the latter.
Cheers!

I need to ammend my previous post. My Romulus is new to me. I just found some CD-Rs I have that will not play. Some I have play and some do not. They are different brands of CD-Rs made on different computers. So it remains somewhat of a crap shoot.

I can say that the CD-Rs that play sound very good.