Hi Michael,
Love your guitar work. My regards to The Mechanics.
You might consider a DVD player as a good low-cost transport. I use the Oppo DV-970HD as a transport, and have done so in four rooms at two audio shows with (so far) no complaints. Nope I don't sell the little Oppo - wish I could!
I have been told that a DVD player makes a good transport because the digital signal is loaded into memory before it's output, which re-clocks it. I have no idea whether that's true or not, but it makes a good story.
The Oppo sells for $149 on my side of the pond.
Cheers,
Duke