I’ve had many CD players in my system, Krell, Melody, Mark Levenson, Audio Research, DCS, etc, but for me, the best one I actually kept, and will keep, is the Esoteric X-01 D2. Granted, not everyone can afford a 20K player (the new model tops 30K), but I got this used for 4.3K (10 year old discontinued model) in excellent condition. I never thought digital could sound as good as my analog system (Gyrodec/SME 5/Atlas/BAT/Vendetta phono/home brew SE EL34 amp/ Focal, among others). The transport is unique, built like a tank, and is as good as it gets, and there are 2 pairs of DACs (fully balanced) one pair for PCM and one pair for DSD with options to convert between each other. Most original owners who spend the big bucks for equipment like this, take very good care of their prize possessions. So if you can find one at a reasonable price, It may very well have been babied. BTW if you are considering loading all your CDs onto a HD/server, for convenience, you will probably have to deal with occasional drop outs, etc. while playing, even with top notch equipment.