Hard to say as each response will be different based on personal experience and even those with vast experience will differ.
DACs are always improving so you can always upgrade.
Transports are a bit more difficult unless you luck out on a good one and if you read about you'll find various and sundry reviews so it's hit and miss, unless you trust the reviewer. There are some great ones out there, but in your price range, I couldn't say.
CDPs can and do still sound great in the price range you have. Sometimes there's something advantageous to having it all in one box. That, and you can always use it for a transport further down the line, better reliability this time around.
I have a TEAC PD-H600 that I tried to use as a transport and fed its output to a Schiit Bifrost and the TEAC sounded better by itself. The Bifrost is no slouch and has gotten great reviews but I only have two good coax cables so it could be that there's better out there (for more money) that would give me better results.
See the quandary?
If you can hold off and look around and experiment you will come to something you like. Just don't rush.
All the best,
Nonoise
DACs are always improving so you can always upgrade.
Transports are a bit more difficult unless you luck out on a good one and if you read about you'll find various and sundry reviews so it's hit and miss, unless you trust the reviewer. There are some great ones out there, but in your price range, I couldn't say.
CDPs can and do still sound great in the price range you have. Sometimes there's something advantageous to having it all in one box. That, and you can always use it for a transport further down the line, better reliability this time around.
I have a TEAC PD-H600 that I tried to use as a transport and fed its output to a Schiit Bifrost and the TEAC sounded better by itself. The Bifrost is no slouch and has gotten great reviews but I only have two good coax cables so it could be that there's better out there (for more money) that would give me better results.
See the quandary?
If you can hold off and look around and experiment you will come to something you like. Just don't rush.
All the best,
Nonoise