DAC replacement

Mike ... I'd appreciate if you could let me know the results if you do change the DAC. I am not really an equipment-head (rarely if ever upgrading) so I am always skeptical of the "latest greatest" digital gear, and as I said I think the Audiolab is a great DAC. But if I am wrong please do let me know. Perhaps I'll have to upgrade ? (Oh no ... not the upgrade bug ! :-) )

Being a long time Theta fan, I've owned the Pro Prime, Pro Prime IIa, Gen IIIa and currently the Gen Va balanced. The best bang for the buck is the IIIa. I recently saw one advertized for $600, I think. You would be very happy. Don

Sean
Current DAC being used with an Audiolab 8000CDM transport which I like, and have no plans to change. Current set up is posted Virtual Systems.
Thanks Mike.

Mike .. I haven't heard any of the DACs, but I have heard the Audiolab 8000 ... and I think one of its great strengths is that it reclocks the input and removes jitter. Of course this is only relevant if using it with a cheaper transport (I was using a Marantz CD67).

If you have a great transport you can ignore my message, but if you don't have a great transport then either buy a DAC with equally good reclocking to the Audiolab, or budget for a jitter box like the Monarchy DIP (which I don't think is as good as the Audiolab's own reclocking).

I'm no expert, but I thought the Audiolab was a very fine DAC ... very natural and not overemphasized in any respect. Tread carefully when replacing it. You might get more treble or more bass with a new DAC, but not necessarily a more natural tone, better imaging etc etc. IMO Audiolab has been overlooked and underpraised in the US.