Cambridge 840c or Pioneer PD-65/Benchmark DAC 1

Mjcmt - Another issue is being independent of transport. I already had Cambridge CD player that failed (laser) and almost decided to buy used Ayre CD player but bought Benchmark and cheap DVD player as a transport instead. Benchmark has 5 years warranty and my DVD player costs $69. In addition I enjoy flexibility of this solution, as you mentioned, listening to HDTV, DVD, MP3 and practically anything that stays within 24bit/192kHz. I could buy new CODE 20bit/96kHz recording (on DVD) and play it without any change. Oppo plays even more formats - so I heard.

I don't know how reliable Cambridge is now but A3i amplifier I had once failed because of faulty assembly (i fixed it myself). It is not important that it was made in China, in my opinion, but rather that quality control was poor (mistake was easy to notice).

I use the 840c and its external dac with my sonos system. I have been very pleased with the overall sound. I have changed everything in my system in the past year except the 840c and do not anticpate replacing. It also can be used with a DVD player t.v. etc.. as well. letting you take a "16-bit/44.1kHz CD data to 24-bit/384kHz data, through the use of a 32-bit Analog Devices Black Fin DSP (digital signal processor). This in turn feeds two 24-bit/384kHz DACs from the same company in dual differential formation."

Beerad - 384kHz is really impressive but DACs have the lowest harmonic distortion at about 100kHz - therefore Benchmark has 192kHz DAC driven only at 110kHz for lower THD.

They must have made a major flaw in design. It still sounds really good to my ears.

Kijanki

It seems that the cheap DVD players are quite reliable.
I have read the cheap Sony DVD players are transports w/ good detail.

The Oppo's are very robust and their first and long discontinued 971 still performs. I have the discontinued 970 which had better audio at the time, before I bought a DAC.

If you watch movies as well the new 980 has excellent DVD picture (1080p), plus it is a universal player at $160. My experience is that Oppo's are very durable, and I have never heard of one failing.

More and more the high end mags are recommending cheap DVD players w/ near state of the art DACs (and for less than a Cambridge 840).