New Release CD Players $1000 - $1500

I use a XL-Z1050,very nice player.

With the number of stunning sounding DACs under $1,000 now on the market, it doesn’t make sense to invest so much money in a CD player (in this price range, at any rate)?

Buying a stand-alone DAC and a CDP to use as a transport allows you more options to upgrade in the future. Unless you don’t have enough space for multiple components.

Pick up a Gustard x20 Pro DAC ($830) and a CDP from NAD, Cambridge Audio, Yamaha, Marantz, Onyko, etc. for around $300 - $500 and you’re all set!

Or check out the Denafrips Ares DAC $600. 

I'll second the Denafrips Ares recommendation. I am upsampling to native dsd256 via hqplayer and it sounds fantastic. The dsd section is a separate set of discrete chips from the pcm side (which also sounds great). Also has balanced xlr outputs and a slim footprint. Hard to go wrong for $600.

Regarding the Ares DAC, what are the input and output connection types on the back of the unit? I'd assume one coax (RCA ?) input and one pair of analog RCA output but it's really hard to tell from the pictures. Thx.