My '90s (early) Yamaha CD player is getting close to being dead. SO, I'm starting to reseach what's available today to replace. My ideal player would be about $500-1000 USD, very neutral, reliable and be able to load 5 disks or so. After just starting research, I think I'm seeing that most of the better units only play a single disk? Or am I just not looking enough? I've toyed with the idea of buying a universal player but I'm wondering if asking one unit to do everything is a good idea. What players would be on your short list to go out and listen to given these criterion? I'll prolly connect it to my Pio1015 via analog so I'm assuming that I need a unit with a pretty good DAC? The Pio does pretty good service as a prepro but I'm guessing in this price range that it does not have the best of DACs? Or should I buy a cheap transport and invest in a good outboard DAC? These are my exact speakers.http://www.salksound.com/gallery/ht1-redwood.html

I'll let the experts tackle the more technical of your questions--but I thought I'd post as I just shopped for a CDP in the exact price range your looking at. You might want to try Cambridge Audio 540 and 640, Arcam CD73, NAD 542 (check that model number--I'm uncertain), Rotel 1072 and the Rega Apollo. I eventually chose the Apollo--even though it's the most expensive (MSRP $995 US). Very impressed when I auditioned it with some Paradigm Studio 40s and The Absolute Sound (avguide.com) rated it "the best CD player under $1,000."