SO- let's see- an iPod goes for about $250 give or take. What bests it in sound quality for a CD player? That's a good question, and I've never done a 1 to 1 comparison as far as price points. My Rega Apollo ($995) is better in just about every way to my iPod playback. More natural tonality, better dynamics, wider and deeper sound stage. Of course it's about 3 times the price.

I'm planning on getting one of those nice Wadia docks and hook it up to an external DAC I have, which will end up costing about the same as the CD player. We'll see how they stack up, although my Apollo already bests the DAC I think, but it'll be convenient for longer stretches of background listening.

There must someone around here with an Oppo DVD player and an iPod who has done a comparison...

The Wadia is just a very good dock that outputs pure digital to whatever DAC you have. Therein lies the "quality" you're going to get, or not, from an iPod. Currently the Wadia dock only one to take a digital signal out from an iPod device.

I think an iPod or any music server can perform as well as a CD player, sometimes better depending on the files, but in the end, it's the D/A conversion that makes the music.

I so wish the Apollo had a digital Input like some of the other audiophile CD players! It would be incredibly convenient and money saving...