CD Player with digital input?

From my experience: The Wadia's are pretty good and if you get the i versions (this means they have the inputs) then mission accomplished. They are a bit dryer in my opinion than either of the other two. Audio Aero Capitole, this is a beautiful sounding tubed CD player that costs a lot of money is may be catagorized in the not totally reliable list in terms of longevity. The resolution Audio Opus 21 is good, the GNSC modded version is very, very good. Of these three, this would be my recommendation. I run this with a Cambridge Audio Azur hard drive system this way and it is quite good. I don't know the difference in performance/sound between the Cambridge vs. the Sonos. But like your intent, the Cambridge is used for convenience, background music - certainly not critical listening.

Jimmy, tell me what you liked about the SA-10? I understand you need the digital input so this sort of ruled this player out for you, but you commented that you really liked it. What did you like about it?

FWIW, while I think the B&W speakers you run are excellent speakers, I find that they are somewhat forgiving in the sense that they make other changes in equipment etc. . . less apparent. I used to own B&W speakers and found that they are very good, but did not exhibit as noticeable of a change when I would swap out other components (as compared to other speakers I have owned). Based on this, my feeling is that you must audition any new equipment through B&W speakers (preferably your own system) and decide from there. This "kind" nature of the B&W speakers, in my opinion, negates overspending on other components and cables as improvements by such changes are not as significant.

Jimmy, thanks very much for your reply, especially your comments on the Esoteric. The ayre players are very good from everything that I can tell and the minimul amount I have been able to auditon at a dealers (though not in a system very similar to mine). Ayre makes great products but I feel the hurt for not having a digital input. I have not had a chance to listen to the Cambridge 840C, many that have compared this to previous Cambridge CD players have reported that it is "much better". I have a Cambridge 640H (I think that is the model) that is their hard drive based system and I really like this, but only when I use the digital outputs (the analog is fine for background, but to really compare and get something close the digital to a better DAC or CD within inputs is very noticeable). I have been informed that the 840C is a big audible improvement of a CD played from this device (which has the 640C CD player and DACs built in). Best of luck and I am sure you can turn the Ayre quickly if you need to and can let it go. I would love to hear your comments on the 7Xe if you do bring one in.

Jimmy, thanks for the follow up comments on the Ayre unit. When you get around to adding that second system, another consideration you may want to pursue is the Resolution Audio Opus 21 with GNSC reference mods. Used you can currently get these for about $3,100. The benefit being the acceptance of digital inputs and also an analog volume control. For a second system, you can get a decent, moderately powered two channel amp, the Opus 21 and a Slim Devices Duet and have a pretty encompassing system. Of course, you could also go with an Audio Aero Capitole, but that will be a lot more money.