Have you thought about about going with a transport and dac at all? I bought a used Jays Audio MKll recently (top loader) and it is way better than I expected.Deep soundstage and the way it separates all of the instruments and vocalists in a natural way is really impressive.It was purchased reluctantly to replace the Cambridge that was beginning to have some issues but turned out being a major upgrade.
Upgrading cd player
I thinking about upgrading my Rega Isis CDP. I’m thinking about the Audio Research Ref 9se or the McIntosh MCD1200. Can anyone give me any thoughts / options on this ? Also I heard that Audio Research stopped production on the Ref 9se due to not being able to get the lasers anymore / that Phillips stopped making them ? I would also rather stick to a one box unit than separates. Ty. Also if anyone else can recommend anything also I would appreciate it. My budget is up at about 12k