why use a dac?

For better sound .

- for better sound
- to use DAC as a preamp (I do)
- some DACs have headphone amp (my Benchmark DAC1 does)
- to connect computer, HDTV, DVD etc.
- to use flexibility of a server
- to go higher than 16bit/44.1kHz
- to play different formats like mp3, DVD-Audio
- to be independent from CDP transport failure (it happened to me)

Investing in CDP might be risky since CD stores are empty, sales are down and some companies already stopped making CDs (like Linn). Future is in downloads.

For fun,varity,and to feed my obsessive/compulsive sickness to buy and evaluate audio equipment!

I don't think investing in a cdp is risky. Tons of people are trying to offload their cd collections, just go to your local pawn shop, where you can pay the same amount for a cd as an itunes download. If you have a good cd collection, using a dac is more of a novelty than anything. But if you are like me, and only have a few cds because i grew up in the internet generation, a dac is a neccessity for a hi-fi flac setup.