I question why anyone would spend big bucks on digital right now. You might want to wait until the formats for higher bit/sample rates shake out. It would be a shame for you to get a system that won't play one of the newer formats. New machines are due out by mid-year. Any DVD player will also play CDs. The onboards D/A converters will not degrade the performance of your EAD, but they "wasted" since they'll go unused. You bypass the onboard DAC whenever you used the digital outputs.
DAC quandry
I am looking into getting an EAD ovation. I am also looking for a DVD/CD player/transport which plays both formats well. I can't afford a theta DaViD (which is what I would like). I looked into the Denon DVD-5000, which seems to be a very good DVD player. However, it has DACs, etc. on board. Won't this be redundant with the ovation (and detrimental to the sound)? Is there a way to bypass the DAC's in the DVD? Is there a comparable DVD/CD transport for less than $4500? Should I look at another AV preamp? Please help me figure this out.