Any Benefits of a DAC vs a one box player?

I was just told that the Audio Research DAC-5 is old technology. Will $500 worth of DAC make much of an improvement here? Will $1000 worth of DAC make a marked improvement over $500 worth?

I'd bet that the internal DAC of the CD2 is better than the older external unit. You have a nice system. I'd save the money and upgrade your amps.

340-square-foot listening room with a 9-foot ceiling--nice! It is my understanding that the DACs in the CD-2 and the DACs in the DAC-5 are the same DACs. If one reads the product literature on these 2 units, they appear to be the same equipment. One could telephone Leonard or Chris at Audio Research and attempt to verify this. I have never bothered to do so. I have owned both a CD-2 and a DAC-5 and I believe them to have the same internal DACs. My ears tell me that if you drive the DAC-5 with a quality transport through a quality AES/EBU digital interconnect that you will get a slightly better sound than the CD-2 alone. But Mitch, I would not sweat the small stuff; if you like your CD-2, just enjoy it!