Old, old, old!!. A good quality component is always a good one. A new one should offer better quality to be better. New is no assurance of better. Bel Canto 1.1 DAC is fine. Meridian transports should be tried first if possible.
Is the transport bad? I'd upgrade the DAC first with a higer quality one (Bel Canto 1.1 is in your range), then upgrade the transport when you get some more $. $600 for a transport isn't much...maybe a Meridian 500 transport, but even those are getting pretty old now.
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