Budget DAC for Oppo VS. Orig. Rega Planet


Hi,
I have an Oppo 970 and someone had suggested getting a separate DAC for my Oppo to improve it. What would you suggest in a separate budget DAC and digital cable? Would the separate DAC/Oppo combo be better sounding than if I just sold the Oppo and got an orig. Rega Planet? Overall, I've been pretty happy with the Oppo, although it is a little lightweight sounding. Thanks for your replies,
Louis
128x128lou_setriodes
For some "budget" means $200 - $300 but I believe one of the best "budget" DACs is the Channel Islands Audio VDA 2. I love this DAC, for $599 you'd be hard pressed to find a better sounding or better built DAC.

http://tonepublications.com/MAGPDF/TA_017.pdf
For $180 shipped the Valab NOS dac is a strong contender. I own some much more expensive cdp, but this is a musical budget dac that I could live with. There is a review here on audiogon and lots of discussion on Head-Fi as well.
I would support the move to a DAC rather than an upgraded CD player. Much more flexibity for the future should you want to upgrade your transport or move to a server/pc based system. Personally I prefer the sound of NOS DACs and there are many good budget ones often named around here (MHDT Paradisea or Havana, Keces, Valab, etc.) You could also look at upsampling models such as the Cambridge DACMagic or one there seems to be a lot of noise about on Head-fi by Audio-gd or as Oddiofyl suggests, the CI Audio VDA 2.