Any insight with the Berkeley Alpha DAC ..??

I am using the Lynx with the XLR breakout cables. I am under the impression that the Berkeley sounds best running direct to the amplifier, but my experience has always been that a good preamp adds body and texture, so I will be trying it both ways--direct, and with my preamp--to see what I prefer.

I listened to the Berkeley Alpha DAC last week and came away very impressed. The setup was not optimal yet it was easily the best sound I've heard from a digital source (I'm an analog guy). The alpha DAC was being used only as a converter for a Cd redbook transport and I never listened to to it with any other source (HRx, HDCD, etc.).

I was so impressed that I spoke with michael Ritter yesterday for more info. After a long conversation, here are a couple of points he made that I came away with: 1) jitter from a hard drive digital source is typically much less than a transport. 2) he prefers WAV files to flax as the processor has less overhead to process and less noise, therefore.

I plan to do a lot more evaluation but came away impressed.

i'm using it on redbook with a nagra as the transport. it's connected by a tara labs zero aes ic. incredible!!

What's the price tag on the Berkley? Can't find too much about it on the net, any comments on it's sonics? Comparisons to previous digital you've owned?

it costs $5,000 US. this dac is capable of converting PCM from redbook up to 24/192. i've spent most of my time listening to CDs, and couldn't be happier with it's translucent resolution and timbral accuracy. there's an overall coherency from top to bottom, three-dimensionality and ease which is frankly a steal for the $.