In the Fall of 2002, I bought a mint Dodson DA-217 MkII-D, here on AudiogoN, to use with a Denon DCD-1650AR CD player. Since the player only had a single RCA digital output, I used a 1.5-meter Harmonic Technology Magic Digital One cable with RCA terminations. This was a big improvement on the CD player alone. In the Fall of 2004, I sent the DAC back to Ralph to install the 218 software upgrade, an AES/EBU input, and isolation transformers on the RCA and AES/EBU inputs. To keep the upgraded DAC company, I sold the Denon CD player and the RCA digital cable, and bought (again here on AudiogoN) an Audio Research CD3 MkII and a 1.0-meter length of the same digital cable, with XLR terminations.
Now, with my Rowland 201's and my Thiel 3.6's, I'm a "happy camper", and I'm grateful that I had the DAC upgrade performed when I did.
Thanks, Ralph! We wish you a speedy and satisfactory resolution of the "family issue", and we hope that you can continue supplying your splendid DAC to an appreciative audio community.