problems with 24 bit cd players

Have you tried the Paradisea Non Oversampling DAC (or any other NON OS DAC). If not, why?

The Paradisea DAC is a small unit. As I recall, it's about 8"x5"x1 1/2". It'll fit just about anywhere including on top of your present CD player (does it have a digital output?).

It produces a nice euphonic sound, and at $500 it's relatively inexpensive.

with respect to the paradisea dac, will an oppo cd player as transport suffice to produce the euphonic presentation that supposedly is its character ?
Mrtennis (Threads | Answers)

I would think so, but offering an opinion that will apply to your preferences is an impossibly steep and slippery slope. Only trying the combo in your system will provide the answer. It'd be a nearly zero sum experiment as the Oppo is available with a 30 day return, and the Paradisea is in fairly strong demand, so resale would be pretty good. One might lose a few bucks on the Paradisea, but not too much.

Why don't you purchase a current production Audionote CD3 player? There's a used one available now. If you've explained why a CD3 is not under consideration, then I missed the reason.

Likely less expensive to replace the laser assembly on the CD2 than buying a new player.

Also the following is copied from the Audio Note CD2.1x owner's manual:

18 Bit 44.1/48/96KHz compatible multi Bit converter chip, the 1xoversampling system will truncate the information at 20, 22 and 24Bits, which is very much milder form of information loss than that introduced by traditional over sampling and digital filtering etc.

The CD2.1x uses an 18 bit chip that truncates the information to 20, 22 and 24 bits. The info you post regarding 20 bit and 24 bit as it relates to the CD2 appears to diverge from that published in the CD2.1x manual.

Perhaps a 20 bit player is not what you seek after all...

FWIW, the Paradisea DAC utilizes a TDA1545A chip that is 16 bit.