Whic CD player would you pick and why

Pbrennan,
Thanks I could not find the other listed above

To all,
If Ripping is the answer which Dac is the next question? Thanks to those who have already offered insight.

Might suggest for synergy sake,going with the Mac pre and CD player.An audition couldn;t hurt.

Unidisk SC would be an interesting choice, as it would replace both the CD player and Anthem prepro. You can simplify the system quite a bit. Plus it provides excellent SACD and DVD Audio performance in multi channel, which you may or may not be interested in. The downside is the redbook CD performance, as Unidisk SC is just a-ok in terms of CD performance. If you look at the CD performance only it would be at best a sideway move.

Next option I would consider is to get an outboard DAC with volume control. Benchmark DAC1 or Bel Canto DAC3 will provide pretty much the state of the art redbook performance. You can keep using Simaudio as a transport, but will be replacing Anthem instead. I think that will yield better outcome than replacing the CD player alone. Also you'll be ready for PC based transport later on if you are inclined to rip all your CDs.

Well your speakers have great sound staging and great resolution. I would want to make sure your cd player has great imaging, both width and depth or front to back layering because that can really make magic. Not sure your price range but take a look at Audio Aero. The Capitol does that really well and there have been some on agon. The older models have analogue inputs and volume control and were more expensive. The newer ones do not and are not as expensive so just don't pay to much for an older model.