Absolute top tier DAC for standard res Redbook CD

Not necessarilly, audiolabyrinth. Heres my take. I truly believe that when you put the proper system together, there are no words to describe what you hear (or, what you experience), just the emotion it makes you feel. My very neutral stseym portrays rich recordings richly and warm recordsings warmly...but I don't hear warmth or richness but its the way my mind and body respond to what I hear.

Cerrott- well said. At the end of the day the music is analyzed similarly in all of our brains but perceived and appreciated very differently. As it passes our conscious processing and enters our subconscious happy place it pushes different buttons for each of us. At the end of the day that's what it's all about. Sometimes I wonder how we would each enjoy our systems if we never spoke wih each other and never read any reviews. Is our capacity to enjoy different and are our happy buttons different then they would have otherwise been? I would hazard a yes. Of course experience, age and maturity always play a role as well.

This journey has taught me SO much.

Sometimes I wonder how we would each enjoy our systems if we never spoke with each other and never read any reviews. Is our capacity to enjoy different and are our happy buttons different then they would have otherwise been?

I believe "yes" Matt, and thanks for the reminder that what we hear, and the level of enjoyment that brings to us, is what really counts and not bragging rights, audio reviews or internet consensus.

Many years ago, when I put my first system together, before the internet, and before I had ever read a single audio magazine, I went to a couple of different shops and in both cases the salespeople simply let me listen to gear in my price range and make my own choices. I ended up with a NAD 3040, Thorens TD166 MkII and ADS L810s. 35 years later, the NAD still powers my outdoor system. After owning and listening to them for over 20 years, selling the L810s and Thorens were two of my earliest audio transactions and two of my biggest mistakes. I believe the longevity of that first gear was because it represented equipment that sounded good to me, without outside influences.

Hi Mat, at the cost of being deemed uncooth and a country bumpkin, analog is what I abandoned in 1984... And never felt the need to look back since.

As for "analog sound" done well, I have a hard time distinguishing it from "digital sound" done well... I have heard fab analog sound and fab digital sound... as much as Crappy digital sound and equally crappy analog rigs.

Yes, I have been equally enchanted/mesmerized down to my soul by complexity, and textured richness of analog front ends as much as by the same in digital front ends. "The Analog vs digital" discussion is covering in my opinion a false problem. Or at least, it is a matter that has more to do with the social sciences than engineering.

G

+1 Guidocorona thoughts regarding digital and analog.