Worlds best DAC

I don't know about best, but I can say this:

I have yet to hear another digital front end that sounds as liquid, as analog, as musical, as my NOS, tubed, Audio Note DAC 4.1 fed computer files. I have heard only 1 or 2 analog systems that I'd say sounded "about" as musical.

fwiw, I've been a musician for 34 years on a variety of instruments so I'm extremely familiar with the natural prat and timbre of real instruments and live performance.

Hi Jon,

Good to know...just read your post. How have you found 'SOTA' transports compare with computer fed files? I would believe that computer files would compete very well on transports up to around 5K, maybe even more...but given the status of your AN DAC 4.1, it would certainly warrant true SOTA transports! I am wondering if you have made the comparison...thanks for any insights!

I'm not sure digitsl transports I've been exposed to qualify as SOTA.

In my system, I've heard:
-- Ayre cx-7e
-- Oppo bd95
-- marantz sa8004

In other systems, at dealer showrooms and friends, cd and sacd transports from:
-- Cary Audio
-- Oppo
-- bel canto
-- esoteric
-- ayre
-- sim audio
-- Electrocompaniet
-- modwright Sony
Others I can't remember. I don't think any have been super high end components though, maybe more mid tier, but many solid contenders, and some in systems with much higher end gear than my modest setup.

My favorites of what I have heard have been the ayre, the esoteric, and the marantz.

I'd take the transporter and computer files over any of them. If I had to boil the difference down to one concept, it is that with computer audio, the transport seems to disappear to me, while spinning transports seem to add a color of their own, they seem somehow more present. A really subtle and very hard to articulate difference. Not to mention the massive convenience factor of 20000 songs at my fingertips, literally (iPad).

I think it may not be an entirely fair comparison though because I've essentially tuned my system around the transporter, keeping components that have synergized well and moving on when not.

I should add that if anyone wants to swing by with a $20k transport I'm up for the comparison! (Tampa Fl area).

Oh yeah, another one that stood out to me was a MacBook pro feeding an ayre qb-9. That sounded incredibly good. Might actually be my favorite front end after mine. Of course, that's also computer files.

I really want to stress that I am by no means an audiophile expert, just another amateur listening to as many things as I can conveniently come across. And as I've said the circles I run in don't include front ends costing upwards of 10, 20k, etc.

So, all in context.