A response to my 8-30-08 post appeared this morning then promptly vanished.
To that poster:
1. I agree with Newly in that the dCS Scarlatti DAC is a part of the best digital source I have ever heard - nothing more, nothing less.
2. I have not directly compared dCS Scarlatti gear to your CDP, nor does the original poster set such a condition. He did ask that stock gear only be mentioned and I am at fault for mentioning my modded Lector CDT. FWIW, I alternate listening with a stock dCS Verdi transport and use a dCS Scarlatti master clock in that configuration. The sound is equally, maybe even more sublime - IMHO, as good as it gets absent a dCS Scarlatti transport.
3. My comparisons, fwiw, are to my current source, but with a dCS Elgar DAC and to an earlier source I owned for years, which consisted of an Ensemble Dirondo transport >> Stealth varidig Sextet BNC cable >> an Audio Note DAC 4.1x Signature DAC. Both were immensely satisfying digital sources and quite costly.
4. I needn't be held to some comparative standard, yours or any others', to express an opinion. You know very well that, even if I directly a/b'd my source with your CDP, our systems (including rooms) are completely different otherwise - making my opinion of said comparison just as subjective as the opinion I actually have offered and, arguably, less biased than yours since you "have a horse in the race".
5. My 8-30-08 post had zero to do with Newly's possibly sarcastic reference to your "horse". For all I know it sings with angels' voices but, frankly, that's irrelevant to me.