That's a difficult question to answr because it depends on how much SACD listening you (plan to) do. I have an SCD-1 which I definitely want to keep even though I don't listen to a ton of SACD, and want to improve the redbook of the SCD-1. That's mostly because I think the SCD-1 makes an amazing transport. I've some experience with the DVP 9000 and know that it has some issues with the flimsy tray, so as a transport it may not be the best option. There are mods out there for it, but as you can get one for 650 used, I think putting more money in doesn't make a ton of sense. If you're concerned with redbook play mostly, then get a dedicated cd player, but as you have a dvd player now for your sacd and cd playback, than I think you're probably better off gettin a universal (sim, ayre, linn?) player. So what do you plan to use it for mostly, because without knowing it's hard to say wether an outboard DAC is better or not.
New DAC or New Player??
My Sony DVP-S9000ES will not play hybrid SACD discs in SACD mode anymore, only the CD layer. It plays everything else fine including SACD only discs. Since almost all SACDs are dual layered today the player effectively does not play SACD anymore. My question is should I give up on SACD and improve my Red Book playback by adding on a Benchmark DAC-1, or would I be better off dumping the Sony and replacing it with a McCormack UDP1, or the Marantz DV9500 universal players?