I have MSB DAC1. no upsampling, no mods. I've tried it with DVD players (pioneer525 and apex)and HK CDP as transports. One think that bothered me about DVDPs was mechanical noise from spinning CD (this is the case for all cheap DVD players). Soundwise all transports sounded differently. Pioneer sounds better then Apex. Generally, I'd say entry level CD players (upto $300 ) with digital output is a better choice for music reproduction.
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?