DAC or new player ?

Konky, check my system and you'll see what I'm using. Yes there are some really expensive DACs around--some expensive transports too--but never mind them. Lots of folks are very happy at the $1K level, less if you buy second-hand. I'm thinking of Apogee, Benchmark, Bel Canto. Tweak them with an isolation transformer or battery power, antivibration footers and a premium digital cable 1.5 meters long... see what you get.

A good transport at that price level is a bit harder to find. Some like TEAC VRDS, some like the Pioneer stable platter mechanism, some like CEC. For $500 - $1K you would have to buy used, and they are likely to be older units.

Tobias - Nice setup. Do you have a view on the Apogee mini dac versus the Benchmark? I'm thinking of going with the USB version of one of these.

Dokosan, thank you for the kind word. I didn't audition the Benchmark before choosing the Apogee because I was replacing an older and much-enjoyed Apogee model, the DA-1000E-20. As you very likely know, there are reviews on the Net but I've found only one head-to-head listening comparison of Mini-DAC and Benchmark and it's in a link on the Apogee site. So many people would like to have another one available that for purely altruistic reasons ;) I am tempted to do it myself.

DAC with computer as a transport. The Paradisea from MHDT Labs sells for under $500, nice tube buffer DAC. I'll probably never buy another CD player.

Tobias is right. We are at the beginning of a new era of digital music and it is nonsense to buy a dedicated cd-player. Get one good dac (actually, such like an apogee mini dac, or even at half price of that a TC konnekt 8 or Edirol UA 101) allows you to have a very well balanced dac, adc (dont forget: these are studio gears and not voiced to be a coloured niche products for serving one particular taste packed into a nice box to please your eye. A TEAC VRDS and old Sony ES player as transport would nicely complement such a gear.