Best Digital Source That Money Can Buy?


(1) Either single unit CD Player or Transport/DAC combo.

(2) no modded units please, only factory stock models

(3) please rank them if you can

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A few come to my mind:

EMM Labs, DCC2 SE + CDSA SE combo
Esoteric, P-03/D-03/G-0Rb combo
Wadia, 581 Pro
...
abe_av
Without doubt, the Orpheus Heritage Dac and Orpheus transport! Especially if you love analog master tapes and the best vinyl.
Without any doubt the best today available digital front is dCS Scarlatti, forget Payback designs, EMM labs, Zanden and others toys, I dont own it, but if one day I have the money..., and sorry I have one EMM labs combo that is vey good
Newly, so when did you compare the Playback Designs to dCS? I'm trying to work that out, but a conflict has kept it from happening. Can you be a little more detailed in your description of the differences?

I've compared the PD to Emm's CDSA-SE single-box unit. I preferred the PD by a good margin. My detail review is available elsewhere on A'gon.

Dave