Believe it or not, using a stock Rega Apollo as a transport feeding my Monarchy Audio M24 DAC I get sound pretty darn close to what the real instruments provide.
All I know is that my wife and I were listening to some piano music from the other room one night. I was getting a little misty -- the way I do when I hear beautiful notes emerge from a real acoustic instrument. I looked over at my wife and as she wiped a tear from her eye she said, "that sounds like a real piano playing in there." All I could do was nod in amazement and agreement.
So yes, I believe the above mentioned combo can definitely challenge the AA player. My only problem is what to do with that extra $12k I didn't need to spend. But I guess I have an unfair advantage that the Apollo/M24 combo is not a single-box player. Oh well!
Merry Christmas!
All I know is that my wife and I were listening to some piano music from the other room one night. I was getting a little misty -- the way I do when I hear beautiful notes emerge from a real acoustic instrument. I looked over at my wife and as she wiped a tear from her eye she said, "that sounds like a real piano playing in there." All I could do was nod in amazement and agreement.
So yes, I believe the above mentioned combo can definitely challenge the AA player. My only problem is what to do with that extra $12k I didn't need to spend. But I guess I have an unfair advantage that the Apollo/M24 combo is not a single-box player. Oh well!
Merry Christmas!