Best bang-for-buck purchase you have made?

Blue Circle USB Thingee DAC. $169 plus a 19.95 3 ft USB gold plated cable from the Shack. It runs everything off my PC in fine fashion. Installation was a no brainer, make sure to set all the levels up on the PC.

VBR files seem to sound the best. I haven't ripped anything in Apple lossless or wav yet for comparison.

I was able to get HDCD using the Windows Media Player with the CD in my puter. WMP does not play well with iTunes, so make sure you shut iTunes down first.

I should mention this is my first new audio purchase since 1978 when I was able to buy at dealer pricing.

It's the wave of the future folks ... there aren't going to be a lot of "redbook" CD stores down the road. Time to get computer literate or the iPod generation will take over.

Hmm.. It's probably a tie between my purchase of a minty pair of slightly used floor-demo Hales Revelation Two's (Sapele finish) at near dealer-cost from my local dealer when Hales went out of business, or my score of a vintage Pioneer SX-434 receiver for only $10(!) at a neighbor's garage sale last summer, original box included. That little 15 wpc gem has nary a scratch on it and all the lights work perfectly! I just love listening to the quiet FM tuner while basking in the glow of that classic blue dial! I was marvelling at how good my iPod sounds through this little receiver and the phono stage is pretty good, too.. Awesome bang-for-your-buck! And the Hales aren't bad, either ;-) -jz

Monarchy Audio M24 DAC and preamp. My ACI Sapphire XL speakers also make a great bang for the buck.

I think I would vote for Odyssey audio with their mono extreme se amps and the man behind the scene Klaus.

A "Trends Audio" USB to AES/EBU converter for about 200 bucks to attach my laptop to my Zanden DAC. A bit more expensive than the Hagermann, but creating less listener fatigue after long listening bouts, for reasons I still have to find out....