When is digital going to get the soul of music?

EVS/ Ric Schultz does a blu- ray modification to the OPPO 95 that's downright addictive and frankly unbelievable until heard. So musical and sweet, extended yet articulate. The digital sound has come a long way, a really long way. I have a beautiful analog set up about 5K and Ric's modified Oppo 95 challenges my TT in many ways and it's definitely got soul and then some. It's magical to my ears. I do of course have the ancillary equipment perfectly matched, amp 25 watt class A pentode into 97 db speakers with dual 12" servo drivers per side and hand built cross over's on top. All for under 10K less cables and ac conditioning. I'll put it up against 50K system anyday and bet I get a least half buying and saving.
the speakers are a kit but awesome, I put it together professionally, the amp is hand built in the US like the speakers all point to point wiring with a nice kicker LIFE TIME Guaranteed on the AMP parts and labor less tubes after 90 days. Speakers are not small but not huge and the subwoofers are state of the art an included in the 5K. I have two other speakers Sonus Auditors w/ rel sub and Revel speakers with Revel sub and my above mentioned systems is decimating the latter two speaker that both cost 8K plus respectively just for the speakers. That mark up is lost value the way I see it and it's taken forever for me to learn this shit. The cables are important regardless of what anyone says. The designers of these components also make cables but I'd try all of them as they are completely affordable and claims are made that they match cost no object but I'm not sure about that. I use very high end cables in all my systems and now I'm hearing some amazing sound. My kids are rocking out most of the time, so I know its really good.

If you really want goosebumps, I can honestly recommend the Great Northern Sound Company Statement mod for the Wadia S7i. Paired with a good ss amp and tube preamp, heaven is just a remote button away. Yes, speakers and cable would help also. :)

To my ears digital, done right, has finally come home...with the right gear.

These days its up to the listener to derive "the soul" from whatever they chose to listen to, not the format.

Some will work to achieve it. Others will not. Some will prefer to whine and complain or maybe buy into conspiracy theories no matter. To each their own! Whatever turns you on.

Detlof, I have to agree that we are strongly moving to much better digital. Recently, I have discovered how substantially vulnerable to vibrations dacs are and how much EMI and RFI gets into dacs from the digital wire to it. The vibrations did not really come as a surprise to me as I have been on a slippery and expensive slope. StillPoints products have been a revelation as to how insidious vibrations are. But recently a friend sent me a Hitachi Finemet core through which I ran the Firewire cable to the Weiss DAC202 dac. It was placed close to the dac. Framkly it transformed my digital. Where can you get one of these cores? I don't know, but I have tried other ferrite rings and they don't do what this does.

This is what I found out about Finemet. "Hitachi Metals developed the first nanocrystalline soft magnetic material in the world, named “FINEMET®”. “FINEMET®” has high saturation flux density and high permeability. It also has stable temperature characteristics. “FINEMET®” provides excellent performance in electromagnetic noise suppression and contributes to energy saving. It will allow reduction in size and weight of electric and electronics devices as well. It is our hope, “FINEMET®” will be the best solution for your application due to its unique soft magnetic properties."

Do I think it is better than my vinyl? No, it is different and certainly more convenient. Do I think it is quite listenable? Yes, certainly.