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Absolute top tier DAC for standard res Redbook CD

Hi All.

Putting together a reference level system.
My Source is predominantly standard 16/44 played from a MacMini using iTunes and Amarra. Some of my music is purchased from iTunes and the rest is ripped from standard CD's.
For my tastes in music, my high def catalogues are still limited; so Redbook 16/44 will be my primary source for quite some time.

I'm not spending DCS or MSB money. But $15-20k retail is not out of the question.

Upsampling vs non-upsampling?
USB input vs SPDIF?

All opinions welcome.

And I know I need to hear them, but getting these ultra $$$ DAC's into your house for an audition ain't easy.

Looking for musical, emotional, engaging, accurate , with great dimension. Not looking for analytical and sterile.
mattnshilp
talk2me's avatar
talk2me
325 posts
 
ModWright Elyse DAC (with a decent transport like my Esoteric) for sure. It kills my old Burmester 089 and x-Great Northern Sound Company Wadia S7i. First thing I did was tubed rolled in a Philips rectifier and 2 Siemens grey plate'60's CCa's. I even had the Elyse's digital designer come over to my house for a listen.
wisnon
700 posts
 
Guys, You REALLY all need to hear the Golden Gate. It blows the Big7 away...unfortunately for me. The DSD is simply unparalleled. A freaking digital turntable.

Its a Holy Crap dac that has a long break in time. Nothing seems to be beating those DHT -big bottle power amp tubes run under miniscule preamp loading.

The DAVE seems interesting, but really its all about implementation. Many manufacturers are raising the bar on the implementation front, as the basic science itself is well understood.

The good thing is that many roads will lead to Rome.
jh901
67 posts
 
Fantastic stuff, guys! Appreciated. Would be nice if even more folks would chime in here as Matt has really got an epic thread going.

I'm sticking with my Cary Audio 306 SACD Pro, which was introduced in 2008, for now. No gear budget. Can't wait to take an epic leap in sound quality. I'd be tempted if there was a different situation in the SACD disc spinner market since I actually do want that option. Maybe legal and easy DSD ripping is not far behind? Gotta wonder what Playback Designs will do now that Esoteric no longer sells their Transports (due to SACD patent holder no longer selling the chip sets)?

-Josh
agear
1,362 posts
 
I am sure you are all vaguely familiar with this law in computing that estimates the rate of change in performance:

"Moore's law" is the observation that, over the history of computing hardware, the number of transistors in a dense integrated circuit has doubled approximately every two years.

We need a similarly named law for dacs and the rate of change which seems to be even more extreme. Paradigm shifts and breakthroughs are right around the corner every three months or less. I personally feel a lot of the breakthroughs are more advertising than actuality....:)
talk2me's avatar
talk2me
325 posts
 
Clearly a lot of marketing hype and the American obession with "what is new" sells a lot of gear. I am in the camp that believes in building something right with quality from the beginning. I will take a high quality cdp/dac any day over a new this month dsd hi-rez player. It is all in the implementation.
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