Need Help, choosing a CDP 1000-1500 range

I have personally found that using and OPPO 980 or 981 as a transport and a Channel Islands DAC sounds superior to CD players costing significantly more. You have very little to lose to try...the OPPOs, are now used,although there may be some new or refurbished floating around, should be a couple hundred bucks. Go to the Channel Islands website, and you will see the DAC is very reasonable, and can be returned for a 10% restocking fee. There is lots of information/reviews online to corroborate my opinion. As a bonus, I am also using the DAC to upgrade the sound from my Directv receiver both for TV and (gasp) for satellite radio as background music. Hope this food for thought helps. Oh, one more thing...it is a universal player. There aren't a lot of DVD-A titles, but there are nonetheless some really good ones. Not as good a vinyl but a helluva lot better than redbook CD's. Also, you can use the DAC to give great sound for concert DVD's, which you can't do with a CD player.

Can the channel islands dac decode,dvd audio hd or sacds?

As far as I know, it will process any digital sound source you throw at it. The model is the VDA2. Contact info for Dusty Vawter is as noted below. He has a great reputation for customer service. If you Google reviews for the OPPO universal players and the CI Audio VDA2, I think you'll be impressed...which led me to this cost effective and very satisfying combination.

info@ciaudio.com
phone or fax us:
phone (805) 984-8282 / fax (805) 984-8283
Office Hours: 9-5 Monday-Thurs & 9-12:00 Friday