Rotel and Marantz, and others, make nice mid priced (under $3K) players that are more than adequate for daily listening. A CD PLAYER has the DAC built in. The CD TRANSPORT requires an external DAC. Internal or external DAC you interface with the player or transport. SACD, HD and others are enhanced digital CD "formats". A normal, everyday CD can be referred to as a "Red Book CD". Many manufacturers source the Laser and Transport assemblies from suppliers, as do many DAC manufacturers with chips. Which Transport and which Laser is kind of getting into the weeds at the 3K level, it becomes a marketing issue. a $1500 player is hard to tell from more expensive units unless you have done a ton of critical listening and have sound quality parameters (AKA Golden Ears). If so, you will be auditioning individual units.
Looking for a CD Player
I am in the process of replacing my Moon CD 5 CD Player --- or might be no reason to replace my present CD Player. The next CD player if purchased is probably going to be my last as I am a senior in age. My wife and I are tired of getting up and down and up and down did I mention up and down to listen to the other side of an album. So, we have a number of CDs and frankly like the ease of listening to them. Not wanting to purchase streaming music. Therefore, we / I need an education on two subjects - Do we need to have a DAC incorporated in the CD player and secondly do we need to have SACD capability?? Not wanting to spend more than 3000.00. All the help would be appreciated.