I have a rim drive VPI HRX that I think sounds better then any digital I have tried or heard. I sold an Electrocompaniet EMC 1UP CD player last year because my laptop playback simply sounded better and is more convenient. My laptop has a solid state 520 GB drive with 16 GB ram and Pentium i7 chip. I use JRIVER as the gui and JPLAY for playback. My DAC is PS Audio MK2 Perfectwave dac. I tried & owned other dacs but for me that sounded best in my system.It is beyond me why a CD copied & played back through a computer sounds better then through a CD player but it does. I will never own another CD player.
The best of the DACs
I've heard can not perform better than my CD player...most of them not nearly as well. Why would I want to open my wallet and patience to pursue digital downloads and have results not be better than what I already have. I don't mind storing the silver discs....and actually, LP's often sound better than CD's.