You may also want to check out the Zanden Signature separates as well. They have been getting a lot of coverage in the 'phile press lately, although I am not sure how easy they are to track down in order to audition.
Cheers,
Cheers,
Best Dac/Transport Under 50,000
Tube Research Labs makes a signal processor that meets your criteria. In that price range, I would want an in home trial with my system in my room, but that is probably stating the obvious. http://www.tuberesearchlabs.com/products/mult_proc.htm |
The most "analog-like" sound I've ever heard from digital was the Forsell transport/DAC combination, which was specifically voiced by Peter Forsell to sound that way. My combination of the Forsell transport and the Audio Logic DAC is close to that, with a lot more detail than the Forsell DAC but still a lot of that analog bloom and life. Given what others have written about it, I would expect the pricier Audio Note DACs to meet your criteria as well. I would not say that the Meitner/EMM Labs gear, good as it is, sounds like the analog you're describing--it doesn't sound digital either, though, which is why it sounds so good. And while I like the current dCS equipment, I would not have chosen its prior iterations over my current set-up; it wasn't until they put the Verona master clock into the stack that it started sounding special again to me. |