I would be curious what other think but Oppo's BDP 105 is the best, the 103 isn't quite at the same level but is superior to the NAD's or Marantz's.  Given the fact that it is a 3D blu-ray player it will be a bit slow but it is an SACD player and will output 5.1 and 7.1 multi-channel stereo signals. 

Since you have a DAC already, buy an inexpensive CD player, and connect the cdp's digital output to the DAC. 

(My experience has been that my old, decent but not high-end Marantz CD player, feeding a Schiit Bifrost DAC, is very slightly better sounding than my Oppo bdp-103.  Perhaps the oppo 105 would sound better, I don't know. But that one costs around $1200 I think) 

The BDP-95 and 105 are arguably the State-of-the-Art in CD/SACD players, and at $1000 are the bargain of the decade.

There is very little comparison between the fairly good 103 and the incredibly good 105.

I had the $6000 Ayre C5xe/MP player, which was probably the best you could buy for under $10,000 for a number of years.

When I got the BDP-95, i sold the Ayre; it clearly sounds better.

The marantz CD-5004 is very good for its price, but does not play SACD. It is certainly not in the class of the 105, however. Only by spending close to $10K can you equal the 105.

bierfeldt wrote:

I would be curious what other think but Oppo's BDP 105 is the best, the 103 isn't quite at the same level but is superior to the NAD's or Marantz's.  Given the fact that it is a 3D blu-ray player it will be a bit slow but it is an SACD player and will output 5.1 and 7.1 multi-channel stereo signals. 

Check out - NAD, Naim, Rega Saturn -R.

If you can find an older Cary Audio 306/200 pick one up. The only negative is it won't play SACD audio. It's an amazing machine that will dig down deep into a CD recording and bring the music to you faithfully.

I've been doing mods on the magnavox 2300 and they smoke any thing else I have, or have heard, by a long shot.

You can still find them used on ebay and amazon.

use it without your DAC

michael green
MGA/RoomTune
http://tuneland.techno-zone.net/

Very nice! MG.

NAD 565 BEE.

Facing the same dilemma as you, I opted for an EVS modified OPPO-105D. Starting with a solidly built platform, the full EVS mods makes it a truly audiophile player for about $3100 total. Nothing touches it for that price.

All excellent suggestions-guys.