Couple other thoughts on this. I also use an Emotive ERC-4 cd player but normally use its AES/EBU outputs with appropriate 110 ohm cable using XLR connectors to great effect into my Holo Spring DAC. Effectively this outperforms by a substantial margin using a computer based music server via USB outputs either straight into the same DAC, or into a Singxer SU-1 converter which then can feed a multitude of different connections (AES, Coax, I2S, BNC) into the DAC. Again I much prefer the AES connection with this setup, but even that does not sound as good as ERC-4 to DAC via AES. For $600 this player is hard to beat.
Another transport that has not been mentioned is the NuPrime CDT-8 ($850.00) which is a transport only but receives outstanding praise. NuPrime has also released the CDT-10 this past year at double the price ± a bit which is said to be significantly better. Both units use the same Phillips transport as I understand it that the Jays Audio and the Denafrips Avatar use.
As a final note, I have yet to hear a Coax connection perform or sound as good as an AES connection, and I've tried quite a few coax cables.
Another transport that has not been mentioned is the NuPrime CDT-8 ($850.00) which is a transport only but receives outstanding praise. NuPrime has also released the CDT-10 this past year at double the price ± a bit which is said to be significantly better. Both units use the same Phillips transport as I understand it that the Jays Audio and the Denafrips Avatar use.
As a final note, I have yet to hear a Coax connection perform or sound as good as an AES connection, and I've tried quite a few coax cables.