The OP needs a DAC! Keep and use the Onkyo as a transport until it dies!
CD Player - Dgital Out on Onkyo C-7030
Does anyone know if the spdif output on this CD player by-pass the internal dack on the player? I rarely use it, as the sound is poor compared to CD to Flac files downloaded on my hard drive. I am wondering if the purchase of a CD transport would improve the sound quality of playing CD's. Sometimes I just want to play a CD.