DAC recommendation

@rbstehno 

I didn’t mean to say they were all the same. Just no night and day differences. What I meant is the A and A+ are all excellent sounding including the PS Audio - which is an awesome DAC - and any will be significantly better than a 20 year old player. Benchmark DAC3 compared well to PS Audio in the recent Stereophile review - so DACs just get better and better. PS Audio would be an excellent choice.

Lucky for you - pretty much any DAC in recent years will better those old players. Take your pick - Stereophile has a Class A and A+ list. Benchmark, Mytek, Bricasti, Bryston, Ayre, Chord and Weiss...are places to start. All are excellent although features/budget/aesthetics may govern your choice. There is no day and night difference between these DACs but they will make you regret having kept your existing players with their decades old technology for so long.

If you are particularly concerned about incoming jitter then Benchmark and Weiss reject it entirely. Jitter rejection has been a key development since your old players. Also the Benchmark handles intersample overs without the typical DAC distortion seen in every other DAC (If you listen to pop/rock CD then intersample clipping is on almost everything and creates harsh distortion)

For as little as $2000 spend  you can be leaps and bounds ahead with a brand new DAC and continue to use your existing transport as a player or switch to digital computer based music files like everyone else.