Quality differences DACs

[guycalledfrank]

Sorry to bother you guys as a very unexperienced music nerd. But I’d like to hear your opinions & advice if I should

-option a) buy a CD Transport + external DAC or
-option b) buy a CDP with good built-in DAC and digital input

My CDP just died and I haven’t compared different DACs and don’t know if there is really much differences. I am currently listening with an Hybrid Amp and Monitor Audio GS60 speakers but I’m planning to buy Dali Rubicon 2c active speakers. I owe a Marantz DV7001 for SACD & DVD Audio but it does not have a digital input, so I still need a DAC.

 

[DSJR]

Can't the DV7001 play CD's too? Looking at pics of this player, it does have digital outputs, so if these are well enough behaved (should be these days), you could experiment with one of the best tested inexpensive dacs from Schiit or Topping amongst others to see if there's any difference at all - some 'universal' players were jack of all trades rather than specialists but this vibe of mine is very old indeed now and things may well have changed. Modern cheap dacs do seem pretty transport-immune I gather and give it like it is, rather than dressing the sound up to go with the posher clothes as many 'audiophile high end' dacs seem to do with their reduced performance.