[dougli]

My current source is a Toshiba SD-2705 DVD/CD player, bought for its video capabilities, not for headphone listening. I have an adequate headphone amp, interconnects and headphones. Would it be worth the cost to spend somewhere around $300-$400 USD to get a replacement CD player, and get noticably better sound? Or, as in most things, would I have to spend a lot more? Any CD player recommendations?

Thanks

 

[msjjr]

Go to the Audiogon site or Audio Asylum and check the discussion area for the digital section. You'll get more help there.
Lots of archived posts on CDP's of every price range.

 

[tangent]

That player will certainly have a digital output. Unless you want a separate CD player because you want to put it somewhere else (i.e. not on top of the DVD player) you should seriously look into a DAC instead. A good DAC can turn a crummy digital source into a spectacular one.

 

[markjia]

Another option is to get a seperate DAC. Your DVD has both optical and coaxial digital audio output so pretty much any DAC would work. For your price range, I'd suggest something like the Art DI/O (~$125). Now, this is only capable of handling digital stereo inputs, but since your DVD is not capable of DVD-A, etc. this won't be a problem. Plus, a CDP at your price range would mostly likely not support any of these formats anyways.

There is also the option of getting a DAC like the MSB Link... It is upgradable to support these formats, so if in the future you get a DVD or CDP that has this feature, you could still use the DAC properly. Unfortunately, it costs quite a bit more (and the stereo output is similar in quality as the Art DI/O).