Tekhifi,
Since you dropped the upsampling requirement I'll weigh in. I went the non-upsampling route. I purchased an Alesis ML9600 CD player/burner and hard drive recorder (40GB) that was modified by Tube Research Labs($1500). I also purchased an Audion Mirror non-up/oversampling DAC available on Audiogon that has 4 DACs/channel with Burr-Brown op amps in the analogue section ($500). So far I am very happy with the sound I'm getting using the Alesis as a transport with the Audio Mirror DAC. If I want I can take advantage of the Alesis as a CDP and get upsampling as well.
TRL will mod just about anything, most notably the Sony 595 ($700). There are some TRL threads you may want to check out. Others you may want to look into: SimAudio Moon Equinox and Eclipse, Cary 308T (hard to find used), and Jolida JD-100 (don't be put off by the price and avoid the mods - unless you send it off to TRL). I also have checked out prior to my purchase the CEC TLZ-51 transport and Benchmark DAC ($2300). This was an impressive combination. I just decided that I preferred non-up/oversampling.
Good luck with your search.
Since you dropped the upsampling requirement I'll weigh in. I went the non-upsampling route. I purchased an Alesis ML9600 CD player/burner and hard drive recorder (40GB) that was modified by Tube Research Labs($1500). I also purchased an Audion Mirror non-up/oversampling DAC available on Audiogon that has 4 DACs/channel with Burr-Brown op amps in the analogue section ($500). So far I am very happy with the sound I'm getting using the Alesis as a transport with the Audio Mirror DAC. If I want I can take advantage of the Alesis as a CDP and get upsampling as well.
TRL will mod just about anything, most notably the Sony 595 ($700). There are some TRL threads you may want to check out. Others you may want to look into: SimAudio Moon Equinox and Eclipse, Cary 308T (hard to find used), and Jolida JD-100 (don't be put off by the price and avoid the mods - unless you send it off to TRL). I also have checked out prior to my purchase the CEC TLZ-51 transport and Benchmark DAC ($2300). This was an impressive combination. I just decided that I preferred non-up/oversampling.
Good luck with your search.