Dekay: I was thinking of selling it, but I may keep the SFCD-1 for a second system. It's about $700 to have a digital output added, and frankly I've never had the sense that the transport on the SFCD-1 was anything special. Audio Advisor has a Parasound CDP1000 on sale for $249...I'm thinking that the transport in that unit is probably as good (or almost as good) as the SFCD-1. Any thoughts? Also, any sense as to whether using the MSB Link Dac III will give me sound that is superior to my SFCD-1? I've always liked the sound of the SFCD-1, but still find CD's played on it tiring on the ears compared to analog. I was hoping that the MSB unit would give me something closer to analog.
Upsampling/Advice on Transport
After reading Sam Tellig's piece in the Feb. stereophile, I've decided that I want to take the plunge into upsampling via the MSB Link DAC. Unfortunately, my current CD player (Sonic Frontiers SFCD-1) doesn't have digital outputs, and so I will need to get a transport. His article implies that the quality of the transport is virtually irrelevant (he even used a Radio Shack portable and got the same results), because part of his suggested system is a Monarchy Audio Digital Interface Processor, which acts as a jitter reducer. So here is my question: in order to get the best sound, do I need to spring for an expensive transport, or will any consumer-grade CD player with digital outputs do the trick. Opinions?