I'm aware of the 5400 only having stereo outs besides the HDMI. My point was that the 5400 or any other cd player can be hooked up to the 5.1 input volume card just using the stereo outs and bypassing the internal DACS of the processor, which would let you use the processing power of the cd player. Of course you will only get 2 channel sound this way, which I understand. Sorry for the confusion. Thanks again!
Transport or player?
Currently have a Parasound/CEC c-bd 2000 transport feeding into a Parasound AVC-2500 processor(DAC is actually very good!) via a AES/EBU cable. Combination has worked well for several years, but the laser is out in the transport. I've tried using the Pansonic H2000 dvd player as a transport, but it's not even close to music. Should I fix the transport for $200-$300? Or get the Sony XA5400es sacd player as I have quite a few sacd's that I've been playing on a Sony 775. Budget is about $1300. How would the XA5400ES compare to the Parasound(transport and dac) setup on redbook? I can hook up a cd player to the 5.1 inputs on the processor and bypass the dacs in the processor. Thanks for the advice!