Higher End DACs

ufguy73 raises and interesting question. How much difference rides on the FPGA program or DAC itself vs the quality of components (power supply, circuit design, etc) by manufacturer. PS Audio is a good example of continued refinement just based on software code. I personally think its still the combination of the sum parts of both system and components. 

The best DAC I've heard at AXPONA, rivaling vinyl, are by MSB.

MSB Technology DACs. Pricey, but the Discrete starts below $10,000.

Just adding my two cents to this chain.

There are a number of reasons why and how DCS is separating itself from other companies in the high end of the business.  Beside the build quality, the architecture of the latest generation (Bartok, Rossini and Vivaldi) enables the company to continuously update and improve the upsampling and signal processing.  In essence you are buying world class hardware that is a future proof-ed through continuous upgrades.

I presently own the Puccini + U-Clock, but the jewel of the line, in my humble opinion, is the Rossini, which has Ethernet ports in the rear.  Just plug into your network on one end, and direct to power amplifiers on the other end, and you are live.  It is am amazing machine.

(I am not a dealer and have no financial interest in DCS)

There are a number of reasons why and how DCS is separating itself from other companies in the high end of the business. Beside the build quality, the architecture of the latest generation (Bartok, Rossini and Vivaldi) enables the company to continuously update and improve the upsampling and signal processing. In essence you are buying world class hardware that is a future proof-ed through continuous upgrades.

i think the direction of the top level dacs is bit perfect, not up-sampling. bit perfect to my ears (with my MSB) seems to optimize the native recording format more and get closer to heart of the music and sound less processed (less digital). with lower noise dac chips the need to push the sample rate to higher rates to escape the noise is no longer a dominant design parameter. the more simple conversion allowed by bit perfect translates into higher musicality.

this is not to say that dCS dacs are not excellent performers. execution of design is still very significant.....and dCS excels at that. but at the end of the day the highest executed bit perfect dacs come out on top to my ears. and going forward advances will double down on that direction.

YMMV, just my 2 cents, and all that stuff.