Seeking Advice on NOS DAC

AN makes great stuff, but I think you're falling into the trap of believing the chip makes the sound.  I think it contributes to it, but I remember Lampizator taking apart some MHZS cd players that used the cheapest dac chip in existence and even he admitted that the player sounded very, very good.  I think part of AN's philosophy is to filter and alter the signal as little as possible, but I think there's more to it than just that.  Anyway, good luck. 

AN makes great stuff, but I think you’re falling into the trap of believing the chip makes the sound....
I think part of AN’s philosophy is to filter and alter the signal as little as possible

I’m not at all saying the chip makes the sound. It’s just that I’ve had a couple ESS Sabre DACs and they seem to excel at retrieving detail, granted the implementation of the total component plays a part. I’ll add that I only have experience with $2000 and under DAC’s in my system.
In the dac’s that I’ve owned or auditioned, IMO, the analogue stage gives the component its signature sound. And less filtering in the digital and analogue stages helps.

I’m starting to like what I read about the Border Patrol. It’s possible that a good NOS DAC can reproduce Redbook plus 16/44.1 downloads better than than 24/96 files.
I do have one concern regarding the Audio Note, the AD1865, 18-bit Dac chip has long been out of production, so I wonder about service. Chips don’t fail very often, but I still think about it.

@lowrider57  I would not worry about the AD1865 chip, Audio Note is still using it and they have spares. That being said I just racked my brain and cannot recall anyone saying an actual converter chip failed on them. It must be an exceedingly rare occurrence.

@jond , yes you're absolutely right about that.
So, finally heard back from the dealer; waiting for pics of the innards. If all goes well, I'll make a purchase.