Old Philips CD as transport or new playe

The level of performance you have now would be surpassed by either decision. BUT the transport you now have will probably not last more than a few years. The idea of a separate DAC seems to be gradually dying out. I would hunt for a used (less than 2 years) CD player.. like a Adcom750 or the Rega Planet. Save the rest of your money.

Terrific help you guys! Question, do your replies mean that the improvements made to CD playback in general over the last few years don't apply quite as much to transports? I.e., do you think a 10 year old transport is still technically sufficient to convey a good-enough quality signal to a new DAC to justify buying a new the DAC for the old transport?

Hope that made sense! Your replies give me great comfort.

I don't think your transport falls into the best can be catagory, but some of the early 90's were the BEST that were ever made. The Phillips and the Sony parts from then were the best ever, current ones are NOT as sturdy, or as carefully made, nor do they use the 'best' parts anymore. (Though the top (only) Sony always have had great optical pickps)
The "best" Sony parts are in the SACD. And Phillips???
The current mid-fi Sony totally suck.

Seldenr, like you, I've been pondering these things. I like the idea and simplicity of a one box design, but have been intrigued with the spate of glowing reviews for inexpensive (relatively) dacs. I listened to Arcam 9 and Conrad Johnson DF-2. Not enough improvement over my Cambridge CD4se to warrant the expense. I've been listening to a new Assemblage 2.7 Signature dac driven by the Cambridge for a couple of days now (using bnc/bnc cable.) I honestly believe that you'd never find a new cd player for $948 (Assemblage price) that sounds this refined and musical. Excellent value for dollars spent. I figure that I can upgrade to a good used transport if the Cambridge expires and still spend less than a new quality one box player. You'd probably find a similar situation with your player, but a 10 year old unit could go at any time. As to the format quandry Dekay mentions, who knows how this will settle out? I've got hundreds and hundreds of cd's I love and have no intention of replacing in sacd even if the titles become available. I just decided to quit worrying about that issue and buy something that will let me enjoy what's available now.

I use an original Cambridge Audio CD4 (not the SE) as a transport. The best bang for your buck transport is an Aiwa CD Changer that sells at Best Buy for $79.95 - It is recommended by the Chicago Audio Society. It works good out of the box as is, but can also be modified by Stan Warren for around $250 into a giant killer.