Dacs are as sensitive to input changes as anything else in the chain. I have went through quite a few high and low end Dacs and feeding them correctly brings out the best rewards. My little Jolida FX Tube Dac is a top notch performer for my uses. I selected it specifically for my Apple TV unit to play the HD music channels. With stock cords it sounded mildly OK, but after replacing the power cord with a PS Audio AC-12 and using the new WireWorld Series 7 TosLink (to couple the Apple TV), the dac is stunning... Well at least to a point. I also replaced the original power cord for the Apple TV with a PS Audio C-7 type cord and also use a Harmonic Tech. HDMI, but there is still one bridge to cross. The jitter from the Apple does not make the unit unlistenable, but it does affect the entire signal... Top to bottom. Sibilance in the voice range is particularly annoying in that the singer (particularly female) sounds as though they are chewing on a corn snake when hitting the high notes. On the lower end, cellos can sound like an in-estrous Baboon scratching it's tootie on a bamboo tree. There is a cure for this somewhere in the form of a little box (there always seems to be a "little box", doesn't there ?). I have heard that it stops the itch for the baboon and also jerks the corn snake from Diana Krall's lovely lips. I don't know who makes it or what it is called, but there is one of those boxes out there somewhere. However, I'm sure that they are at least $10,000 and there is a waiting line because the baboons and corn snakes have them all bought up.
