I've never had a multi-player that could play CDs nearly as well as a CDP. And I tried several.
Another myth: any transport will 'feed' a DAC just fine. When I finally got a good DAC, I tried the same 'several' players as transports-only. The variance is SQ was clear and startling. Only two made the grade. One, Cal Audio, developed problems; my first attempt to fix it failed; I will try again some day. I'm now using a Panasonic DVD/DVD-Audio/CD player. It was an early model when DVD-A was launched, so I figured they didn't cut corners: the future of the new DVD-Audio medium was riding on it. So far so good. And the remote has some nice extra features too.
I also discovered the importance of a dedicated 'digital cable'. I first tried an IC — a good one, high purity, well shielded, high end. Then I made a 'digital cable'; it made one of those fabled "Night and Day" differences.
For the first time since CD was launched, I now love Digital.