Yes,another DAC question

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.

I think a dedicated CD player, especially an expensive one, could be a big mistake. Music sourced from computers/hard drives driven through the better software and lastest DACs already seems to be matching and even bettering what some of the best dedicated players are capable of with CDs much less what the hi-rez downloads can produce (read the latest Absolute Sound article on what the current capabilities are with J River, Jplay, etc.). So I'd advocate going the DAC route with an eye toward the future. Whether it's Weiss, Bel Canto, dcs, etc., only you can decide, but I think at least some of them have demonstrated an ability to upgrade to maybe lessen the price of avoiding future obsolescence.

Personally I haven't gotten my computer audio source off the ground yet, but it's so obvious it's going that way that it's pretty silly to live in denial any longer. Best of luck in whatever you choose.