What’s the best DAC match for the Cambridge Audio CXC original or V2?

Let’s back up a bit.  What would you most like to improve upon over what you have now, and what aspects of sound reproduction are most important to you?  You’ll get much more useful and targeted recommendations if you can specify these crucial things. 

op

a good cd transport will deliver a solid, noise free (electrical noise, not mechanical noise) bitstream to the dac through whichever connection method it provides ... so the notion of ’matching a dac to a transport’ is not super critical if both do their jobs in transmitting and receiving the digital bitstream for conversion - many many good dacs can work suitably well with a decent cd transport

that is why knowledgeable people are asking what are you trying to improve... the dac is the ’voice’ of the digital front end...

My CXC is connected to a Bel Canto DAC 3 by an Oyaide DR-510 coax cable and then a Raven Audio Blackhawk LE amp and Nola Boxer S1 speakers. For me, the combination sounds exceptional and the Bel Canto's excellent ergonomics and flexibility are a bonus.

Agree w/ others. There's no matching question here. It's a question of the kind of sound you're looking for and the way you achieve that given the various factors in play in your room, system, etc.

That said, here's my experience: I have tubes -- tube preamp, amp. I don't want over-coloration but I want dimensionality and accuracy but not too aggressive or forward in the upper mid, treble.

I bought a CXC transport and tried it with: an Audioengine D1, a Peachtree DAC*IT, and an MHDT Orchid Dac. The Orchid was the best, and got even better when I rolled a Tesla tube into it. I did comparisons of these (relatively inexpensive DAC's) against the Orchid and the difference was significant. I have heard many good things about the Tubadour III, also. But that's really the limit of my experience. I would bet good money that if someone plunked down other good Dacs in my system and blindfolded me, I might not really know what to choose; but against the less expensive DAC's I owned, the step up (to the Orchid) was a real advance.

pmm,

The Bifrost brightened everything including how the bass sounds.  By doing this it de muddled the bass a bit (which I like), but I’m not crazy about the rest.

All the best.

JD