I know this is not one of the trendy new favorites like the Benchmark DAC. Hell it is only a "20bit" DAC but it is using what is arguably still one of the very DACs ever made, the Burr Brown PCM63K (true 20bit ladder type not the rehased 1bit/24bit delta sigmas and much more expensive)along with the very nice Burr Brown DF1700 8x oversampling digital filter. As long as you want a DAC for straight ahead cd replay (no DSD or DVD-A) then for the money (about $1200 for the 22B + $300 for a DIP) it is really tough to beat. Used they can be found for around (when they can be found) $500 + $150 or so for the DIP. They use transimpedance amps for the I to V conversion and a GIC filter in the output so there is no phase shift. Coupled with a DIP they are truly playing in the big leagues for redbook cd. The 22C even comes with a nice linestage built in (although I prefer tubes in my amplifiers).
For a step higher than this then I would get a used Mark Levinson 360 DAC. This is a seriously good machine that can be had for about $2500 or so used. I think it doesn't really get much better for redbook cd.
