transport questions


I have an old Theta Data II coupled with DS Pro Basic IIIa.  It has served me well for 20+years and a sound I have grown to love.
The Data has an odd problem where it will play a disc for about 20 minutes and then stop sending the digital signal to the D/A. Theta wont service it and as a quick fix i had an old Rotel DVd1080 in another room I substituted. Without switching between the 2 I think the Rotel is less deep and separated than the Theta.  Am I just too accustomed to the sound that I think the Rotel sounds worse...or it the Rotel as good or better (warmer)

I am also taking suggestions for a replacement transport used in the $500-900 range
fjpic
I also think the Wyred4Sound is very good with older DACs.

It always outputs 96k/24 bit, and they seem to prefer it, not to mention the signal is more stable.

Course, in this day and age, maybe a streamer front end?  Roon will upsample.