Interesting thread. I hope I can pick some brains. I switched from cd playback to an intel nuc and jriver some years ago when to my ears my lowly cd player was outclassed by the new tech. I currently have an Audiolab 8300 cd player, not the latest mqa one. That I would play aes out into Topping D90 then straight to twin Schitt Vidar. Still preferred the nuc playback. Now, a revelation. The new Topping pre 90 in the chain has enhanced my enjoyment of cd playback immensely. Different sound altogether.
So on the asr front what are you all finding is the most revealing sound source? As has been mentioned in this thread cd is old tech yet does it need a 'high end' 'expensive' player to dredge out a highly detailed rendering of what was recorded in the mastering? Are you getting this detail from av players? Granted the rest of the playback chain needs to be able to pass through the data from a resolving source. The question is what, perhaps the science says, is the best form for that source to take ie to be played on or from? What are your experiences guys?
it doesn't really matter that CD is old tech, it has 100% of the recording on it, there's nothing more that can be added.
Subjectively I perceive differences in quality between some units used as transports, I have not tested this blind and level-matched though.
I bought a dedicated transport brand new mainly because I wanted the maximum amount of hassle free time before failure. I don't perceive it as any better than the Sony XB790 QS player I was using before but that has issues with the draw mech, simpler just to replace with new transport and DAC
In short providing the rest of the chain is good pretty much any CD player is capable of outstanding results.
As always loudspeakers and room are the ultimate bottlenecks. You only have to look at speakers measured on this forum to see how many poor ones are out there, and how even well-engineered tweeter-woofer two way speakers are inherently flawed and will compromise even a perfect source.
get a well engineered 3 way loudspeaker and pretty much everything else falls into place.