Whic CD player would you pick and why

If you decide to rip your music to your PC you should consider the Modwright Transporter. It has ended my search for a better CD player or DAC. The CD players and DAC's I have owned are, Wadia 20 transport and 27ix DAC, Wadia 861SE, Rega Saturn, PS Audio DLIII (with my iMac as the source) and the Proceed PDT3 and PDP3.

In my opinion, in my system, the Modwright is better than all of those players/DAC's. I have ripped over 18,000 songs using Apple Lossless to my iMac and the Transporter's convenience and sound quality have been a revelation to me. It even gives my vinyl rig a run for the money. YMMV

For 4-5k you can pickup an esoteric x03se on the gon and with a good pwr cord great soundstage and dynamics -remember sound stage is part of the system you have cables -speakers amps pre amps can all affect soundstaging as well as you room and speaker placement ---the x03se is a great player for the money

Lysaker, I have no info or opinion on the Linn. There are so many DACs out there (and so many flavors that people like) that I would recommend spending a bit of time digging around in the archives here and over at Audioasylum.

For the budget you describe I suggest you consider a higher end Esoteric unit that you can buy on A'gon for less than your budget, with full warranty(often seen)& far superior build quality and service life, from a company that takes inordinate pride in allowing customers to maintain & upgrade their units, and that will play virtually all formats other than Blu Ray.

Psacanli,
The warrenty is a concern. Esoteric only has a two warranty extending one additional year once registered. Most folks don't sell new and to transfer thewarranty costs an additional $100.
Thanks for the insights,
Eric