A Low Cost Pleasant Sounding Used CD Player?

Do you have a DAC?

Says in the 6th post in this thread that he has a DAC.

I have the Oppo BDP-103 Onkyo 7030 and the Cambridge CXC, and aside from the CXC being solely a transport there is a large and notable improvement in quality (clarity, soundstage) between the three - with the CXC a clear winner, the Oppo very close behind and the Onkyo taking a distant third. 

The CXC is a little more sensitive to disc quality and I found it lagged behind my new DAC (Pontus 15th) - which was demanding a better timed output than the CXC can manage.  Still, below $500, these are all decent options.  I now run a Jay’s Audio CDT2 (zero timing issues), an order of magnitude improvement over the CXC - huge leap - but comes at a stiff price.  Oppo is a workhorse but all are old and used now.

I’m confused.  You ask for a CD player but then say you’ll be using a DAC. Which is it?  With a DAC I’d be looking at the Shanling ET3 that gets good reviews, but I’d look into reliability because I think I’ve seen it has had some problems. Whichever way you go, best of luck. 

soix: I feel a bit on the defence - sorry for your confusion but I was initially looking for reccomendations of a simple replacement CD player until someone suggested using just a transport, which is possible since I own a DAC.

For a couple of CDs a month though, the Shanlin is a tad pricey, certainly if reliability might be an issue. (Been there, done that - à la Linn!) I was thinking of something around $500 used. The Sony transport might be a good bet as it gives me a wide variety of media formats to explore. 

Thanks to everyone for taking my request to heart and sharing their personal favourites.