DVD-A player with best redbook cd playback

You ought to hold out for COMBINED DVD-A/SACD/CD/DVD-V,etc capability. For $500 or less you can get a Pioneer DV-45A that does all this. Decent build quality, and it sounds good to me. I think the sound improvement just due to the new media will keep you happy for a while. Check out the Pioneer website for details on the 45-A.

Voodoochile...Am I correct that a "Redbook CD" is just a particular brand of CD having superior audio mastering? No different digital coding scheme?
I believe that the Pioneer, and for that matter, all other DVD players, have 24 bit 96Kc D/As, (six of them which is why prices are plumeting). CD playback inevitably benefits from DVD playback requirements. I bet that an inexpensive new-technology DVD player performs as well as an expensive outboard D/A from just a few years ago. I'm sure that the analog output circuits of inexpensive DVD players could be improved, (although today's OP amps are much better than the old days) but I bet that deep down inside the digital guts, inexpensive and high end players use the same chip sets.
Also, when playing multichannel DVD-A or any SACD there is no digital output...you MUST use the player's analog outputs.
When I play a CD I can use the digital (optical)output into my decent Rotel D/A, but to tell the truth, the analog signals sound just the same. If there is a difference it is small, whereas the difference between a CD and a SACD is marked. So my advice, based on experience, is make the big jump to the new media quickly and inexpensively, and tweek things up, at great expense, later.

Voodoo...Thanks for the scoop about "Redbook".
Agreed that D/A..A/D..D/A would be stupid.
When CD's began I had a Mission player that was just what you describe: a decent player (Phillips) with upgraded analog output circuits. The analog circuits were in a completely potted module that was just stuffed into the box and free to flop around! Looked like a home brew job, but it worked well for many years.
I believe that many DVD players, even the cheap ones, when playing CDs do take advantage of the 24 bit D/A and higher sampling rate. A Panasonic unit that I used for a while had a "REMASTER" switch that cut this feature in or out for the digital output. The switch was necessary, so said the owner's manual, because not all outboard D/A could handle the high rate. The manual suggested that using the analog outputs would always assure the best audio quality because the internal D/As were up to the job.
Do you know of a really good book explaining all this new technology? As it is we have to "reverse engineer" the equipment from sales brochures and owner's manuals, the latter often being a translation, sort of, from Japanese.