Hello Mike

Indeed there are many reviewers and people believe that it is better to use a dedicated CD player to play CD and use the DVD only for DVD movies. My experience was that my DVD player was unable to replace my Pioneer PDS-903 CD player, using the same external 20 bit DAC. At times, I felt that the sound was inferior.

However, I have tried some latest 96Khz 24bit DAC which give life to the DVD player. They can acieve a performance that is more analog and transparent, without the trade off of less attack and details. Perhaps you should give these new DACs an audition, it will improve everything.

Playing CD or VCD on a DVD player should have no dire effect on the player itself! But of course, the player is subjected to normal ageing. Even so, I believe after two to three years you will upgrade or buy a better player anyway, regardless whether your current player is in service?