Absolute top tier DAC for standard res Redbook CD

Not even close to the same ball park of the DAC's being discussed in this thread Randy. It's a nice DAC for the price and should be put up against the Ayre Codex and some others in that range, but it's just not what this thread is about.  Takes nothing away from a nice DAC for it's price range though.

Many say otherwise.

That is why he needs to try one blind and hear for himself.  Never dismiss a product based on its price.

While I agree one should not dismiss a product based on its price, you hardly ever see anyone hook up a $1000 component to a $20000 piece in a given system and perform a blind listening test. Similarly, there are a lot of disappointed shoppers who bring home a component that sounded incredible at the dealer showroom and find that it sounds like crap in their system at home. Folks usually buy what's at the extreme of their budget and generally speaking the more you pay the better the sound.

After my experience with MSB, Lampi, AMR, Chord and Playback Design i am no longer in the camp that believes the more you pay the more you get. No longer do I rely on Magazine Reviews or Forum Hype that one DAC destroyed another.

My playback designs runs circles around more higher priced DACs. This was a eye opener for me. I am yet to try out very cheap DACs to compare but I believe the FPGA and R2R dacs at the moment are reigning suprema in the digital domain.

Forum Hype is a dangerous marketing tool for the uninitiated with limited experience.

Every month a new DAC company will prop up and everyone will claim this is the next best thing. Enough with the crap...

High price does not always equal better!! This is a fact. There are $8k DAC’s (ODSE & APL DSD-SR for example) that I would chose without hesitation over many $12, $18k, $24k or $35k DAC’s. As an example, the new Reference Emm DA-2 was disappointing to say the least. I bought it, I auditioned it, and I traded it. But experience has taught me that there is also a pseudo-floor of about $8k below which currently nothing exists to compete favorably with the top tier DAC’s. If someone wants to prove that wrong please send me their sub $8k giant killer for audition and I will be happy to report my findings. That all said, I will gladly admit that the Davinci Light Harmonic DAC (which is around $35k) is the best damn DAC I have ever had in my system and mine will be arriving in about 3 weeks for permanent residence, or until something better dethrones it.

Which hits on my next point, just made by Dragon_Vibe, and he’s 100% correct. BE CAREFUL OF RAVE REVIEWS IN MAGAZINES, ON-LINE REVIEWS AND FORUMS. You would be shocked to see how many reviews are essentially just paid advertisements, how many on-line raves are subsidized and how many forums are fed info by people with motivations to sell product.

FROM DAY ONE, I HAVE PUT MY OWN MONEY OUT TO BUY EVERY DAC (and now have some sent to me for honest audition) I HAVE AUDITIONED! I DONT REVIEW, I AUDITION AND COMPARE TO WHAT I CURRRNTLY HAVE. IF ITS BETTER, IT STAYS. IF ITS NOT BETTER, IT GETS SOLD (or sent back). My opinions are 100% sincere and unbiased. If a company wants to send me something for audition they better be comfortable with me reporting to you guys that I don’t like it. Period. You get the whole truth!! Also, NOTHING gets auditioned without cooking for a minimum of 500 hours in my room to make sure it’s well burned in, settled, and has the best opportunity to sound its best.

With a new flow of DAC’s coming out, I’d love to get my hands on a top tier Playback Designs to audition, especially with Dragon_Vibes comments, and I look forward to CTSooner bringing his prized Ayre DAC over this summer for a good listen. I have no interest in buying a Golden Gate, but I’d still love to hear one in my room so I have an educated reference for you guys.

That all said, I will today be auditioning and comparing my (yes i purchased it to audition it) Chord DAVE DAC. A friend is coming over and we will be comparing it to my current reference ODSX. We will also be comparing the Aurender N10 I am borrowing to a Micro-computer running Windows and JRiver through a Micro-Rendu. That should also be a cool comparison. I don’t believe any fancy power supplies are involved so it should be a fair off the shelf comparison.

Thanks everyone for keeping this thread fresh and interesting!