help a Die hard ANALOG guy choose a budget CDP

@fjn04  As someone who has been posting here since the beginning without a commercial interest and in good faith, let me respectfully make a rare statement that I am not sure that much of the advice posted in this thread is current good advice. The exception being to invest more in a better DAC, which will be a good investment regardless of which digital source you choose now & in the near future.

I get the feeling that many of the replies could have been written 10 years ago, and the perspectives don't reflect much experience with the latest in digital sources. Digital network players, fully optimized computers(including special software and upgraded power supplies) and other "appliance" players with built-in hard drives all can and usually will give you superior results to most conventional disc players. This is a more complicated topic than many and much has been written about players from Sonore, Aurender, Aurelic, Melco and others that IMHO turn the digital music paradigm on its head. 
IMHE, a modestly priced network player, music stored on a NAS and a good DAC can provide staggering improvements in sound quality and increased convenience vs. disc based solutions. It's really worth investigating! I won't derail your thread with specifics about any particular products. 
If any of the earlier posters here have compared such products and prefer the sound of their disc players, I apologize to you and look forward to hearing why your prefer them. If your advice is based on the inconvenience of ripping discs, I'd encourage you to overcome that challenge and take the plunge. Cheers,
Spencer

@whart This other post of mine hopefully addresses your suggestion. Thanks,
Spencer

@fjn04 Yes, some of the brands you mention make nice stuff, but the Bricasti DACs and Lumin network players are well above your stated price range. Not to worry though. 
It's true like @audiofreak32 and @mesch say that running computer audio (from a PC or Mac) into a DAC is not that hard to do and can be an improvement with good software. I did that for a few years in my case with a Mac running Audirvana+
But for my money, the better sounding and wiser investment is in storing your library on network attached storage(NAS) and playing that music on an ethernet based network player such as the Sonore microRendu, Aurelic Aries, Aries Mini etc. with a quality linear power supply & that fed into the best DAC that you can afford. Supplement your library with Roon and Tidal streaming service music if that's your cup of tea. Many sonic benefits result from using a lower powered single purpose device in the listening room and isolating the music files via ethernet. High quality power supplies in the listening room can have dramatic impact on the digital gear.
The only reason to stick with a powerful PC based system is if your are a more hardcore PC enthusiast and you want to tackle running HQ Player and take advantage of its digital signal processing and mega upsampling options(a whole massive topic in itself & more complex than many want!).
To get a handle if this approach is a good fit for you I suggest reading Chris Connaker's and Michael Lavorgna's reviews of the Sonore microRendu and watching Hans Beekhuyzen's video reviews of the same and the Aurelic Aries Mini. Cheers,
Spencer

@audiofreak32 Okay, consider yourself defied ;-)

IHME, I heard a difference as did plenty of visitors here and none of us claim golden ears. But I agree with you that if that changing the file storage to NAS is your only change it wouldn't be a great value investment.
The bigger difference vs. just changing from external local HDD(via Firewire to Mac) and NAS via ethernet(CAT6A) was getting rid of the Mac(running A+ or Amarra) completely and replacing with a microRendu with a good linear power supply. The digital source can make a critical difference and the better your DAC, the more you will likely appreciate it.
1)Running a lower powered device with cleaner power
2) less process intensive Linux O/S not fighting against many non-audio related processes that run on typical PCs & Macs
3) elimination of disk drive in the listening room (especially if not solid state drive)
4) optical isolation between NAS & audio analog components all improve the sound in most cases.
5) Regen technology and optimized USB output vs. full function computers
All these result in sonic improvements that result in more believable digital music. This stuff is discussed elsewhere in greater detail, Cheers,
Spencer

@Sevs Are those Naims the ones with the cool looking tray that swings out with a curved front, sorta like a corner cabinet? Is parts availability an issues? Cheers,
Spencer