DAC - DCS Bartok or the new Berkeley Alpha DAC 3

I had a Berkeley Alpha 3 in my system for several weeks and was able to do direct comparisons with my DAC. It is outstanding, detailed, natural, and musical. I could not imagine anyone not being happy with it. (My system shown under my ID).

I was comparing it with my Audio Research CD9se (as DAC). I actually liked the ARC better… a tiny, itsy, bit warmer in the midrange (really small), the Berkeley a tiny, itsy, bit, barely detectable greater detail.

I see the AR DAC 9 is about the same price as the Alpha DAC 3.

Tubes may be interesting.  Might pair well with my C22

The ARC DAC 9 is about $12K less than the Alpha. The ARC DAC 9 does not have the SE designation but it will probably sound roughly similar to the ARC CD9se ($17K).


Every time I switched another component to high quality tubed component it sounded better. ARC is really good at very high resolution / musical sound.

Yep both the Berk and Bartok have a bit more detail than the excellent ARC. Yes, i have heard all three at length. Two i would add to your list are Aesthetix Pandora - Signature and the Brinkmann Nyquist. Both w tube analog stages , both w minimum phase filters. Any of the above will get you great sound, future upgrades, dependable support / service that should be around for the long haul.
You might also consider a NAIM streamer / DAC. 
best to you. enjoy the journey and the music.
Jim