Absolute top tier DAC for standard res Redbook CD

Well, yes... Aeris directly into Rowland amps is divine... I remain ever so happy about my Esoteric X-01 + Rowland Aeris + Rowland M-925 monos + Vienna Die Muzik chain *grins!*

G.

Matt, now that you have done a crash course in speakology...I look fwd to your feedback of the Kii at GTT and the ProLogos at Rhapsody. You are now in a great position to give your qualified opinion on the different design philosophies.

BTW, Jeff Rowland loved the sound of the Vapor/Lampi/Verastarr/Resolution/Rowland room. He lent them his amp and stayed there a very long time listening, I am told. I could see him working with Vapor...

There were five memorable rooms in their overall sound IMHO at the RMAF: PS Audio and YG, German Physics, Voxativ, and Exemplar Audio, and on the last day, On a Higher Note mezzanine room with the Vivid speakers and the Merging Tech digital.

The PS Audio suite was greatest when playing a cd called French Impressions with Lowell Graham conducting and sitting beside me. Cuts he recommended were exceptional.

The German Physics room initially attracted me as there was a quad DSD recording being demonstrated there. But later I heard even cds sounding exceptional.

Every time I passed the Voxativ suite, the sound attracted me in but usually the crowds there caused me to leave. The same was true of the Exemplar suite once the speakers had settled in. Their speakers were quite dynamic thanks to crossovers with no caps.

Finally, I sought out the Merging Tech MC-8 NADAC dac late on Sunday when there were no crowds there. Without them, it was quite good sounding.

I also spent a long time in the Synergistic Research suite listening to their demonstrations, especially their new power cords. I also got High Fidelity Cables seminar on magnetics in audio.

This was as usual a fun show for me but attendance seemed to be down this year.

Teaser:
Hopefully I will have some time this morning to listen and compare the "on loan" Emm DAC-2X and the "just arrived and on loan" MSB DAC V. MSB is also lending me the purpose made power line conditioner for the DAC but they were using it at RMAF so it's en route now. But a fair comparison would be using my same Shunyata Hydra AV conditioner on both dacs. So I'll start there.

Stay tuned.

Matt, given the caliber of line-level gear that you are working with, it might be worth while climbing up the Shunyata conditioners totem pole up to a Triton II. G.