Yes,another DAC question

I would look closely at the Rega Isis player; well into the very top class and some have been floating around for a semi-reasonable price i.e. $5k or so. Should easily equal anything under $10k. Do I have one? No; I have the Rega dac, which is quite good but nothing like the Isis. Extrapolating from its performance and the reviews on each in HIFICRITIC the Isis is a great product.

My opinion is that if you are willing to spend up to 10k for a DAC to bring your system to another level you should spend the time auditioning the contenders in your system. There really is no other way. I suppose you could just audition in an unfamiliar system but I'm not a true believer in "triangulation", or discerning what component is specifically doing what, especially in an unfamiliar system. If you have a local audio group, it might be a means of auditioning otherwise I would look for a dealer or distributor that will allow you to listen before deciding. 10K is serious money for a serious listener, I'm sure there are dealers that would be willing to let you try first. btw the W4S with the upgraded caps is in my experience a great DAC for the money but for 10K I'm certain you can get considerable refinement, the question would be, Is it worth it to you? Only you can decide that, not other opinions.

Tubegroover,
I totally agree with you about auditioning the components I mentioned. I did that with my cables via (the cable co.) I invested quite a bit of money in my system so far and was just looking for members opinions and thoughts on higher price DACs or CD players that would possibly work with my recent system. Thats all. Stanwal mentioned the ISIS CD PLAYER. Like to go the next level of detail, wider soundstage,better separation of instruments,so on and so on.

If possible, expand your budget (slighty), and try to talk this guy down in price a bit...

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?dgtlplay&1328807653&/Zanden-2000P-/-5000-Sig-Transp

I own the PS Audio PerfectWave DAC and transport...it soundly beat a modded Meitner Bidat/ CEC transport combo as well as a T + A $5K CDP. I'm getting the MK II upgrade next month and this should take it to an even higher level. The PW transport is essentially a memory player and, according to many, is simply the best transport you can buy for SQ when used with its I2S connection. I have friends who replaced their Esoteric and Mark Levinson transports with the PW. A new retail MKII DAC and transport will retail for $8k in January.

If you have no need for a transport and you want to spend all of your budget on a DAC, I would audition the Bel Canto 3.5 vb and the midrange MSB dacs in addition to the dCS.

Personally, I set my budget limit for digital at $5k because of the current pace of innovation. I think some people are going to be shocked by how quickly some very pricey units are going to look "old" when compared to affordable DACs on the horizon. I could well be wrong, but it's already crazy what you can get for $1,000 compared to what that would get you just a year ago.