My suggestion is to get a Cary Audio CD303/300 192kHz/24 bit HDCD player. It plays redbook CDs very well. List priced at $4500 circa 2004-2008, you can find a used one for between $1K and 1.5K. It is versatile, allows for different flavors with it’s upsampling feature. Plus, it has two 12au7 tube slots where you can add a less bright tube flavor, if you desire. I use the CD303/300 including it’s internal DAC standalone as well as a transport to different DACs. A prime candidate for a DAC which meshes well with the CD303/300 is the later still being made Cary product, the DAC-200ts. This DAC like the CD303/300 also has the two 12au7 tubes slot. It is a mood thing – sometimes using the Cary 200ts with the CD player sounds better than just using the CD303/300 standalone, but either way I prefer using with 12au7s but the latter only turned on in the CD player or DAC but not both. Other variables to consider are which speakers you are matching to the CD source. I have found that both B&W Nautilus 804s and the Fujitsu Eclipse TD-512 near range speakers match well with these Cary products using a McIntosh integrated solid state amp for the 804s and the Yamaha RX-V2700 for the TD-512s.
