I have a CD5004, which is very good. Stereophile did a review of it recently.

I use an OPPO BDP-95 in my SOTA stereo system, which is arguably THE best player at any price less than $8000 (along with the BDP-105) The SABRE chips in it are the state of the art.

For $499 you can get the OPPO BDP-103, which is what I would do if I were in your shoes.

It not only is the best-sounding CD/SACD player by far at that price, it has a good DAC and a dozen other features that make it a lot more than just a player.

You can buy it direct from OPPO at their website.