DAC as an upgrade

I'm getting some good tips here and on some other threads regarding various DACs to consider.

BEl CAnto and Musical Fidelity are some of the names I am familiar with that seem viable for me and worth considering. Some other lesser known specialized vendors like BEnchmark seem to have some very good feedback as well.

I've even seen a few older DCS units not too far beyond the price range I would consider. I've heard newer DCS gear recently and would probably have to consider that my reference at this point.

Need to do some more research, but I'm thinking an experiment with an outboard DAC could well be in my immediate future.

Mapman - external DACs can play pretty much anything in up to 24bit/192kHz delivered by SPDIF or USB (Benchmark). CDs might be replaced in future by downloads to hard drive bypassing unforunate redbook CD format with limitation of 44kHz carrier. Many DVD players can also play Audio DVD and SACD (converted to SPDIF) and even HDCD. External DAC opens many possibilities and makes you independant from transport/source. Quality of dedicated external DAC is higher - just show me CD player with measured -140dB signal to noise ratio (Benchmark).

Most of CD players use mute clamping circuit on the output (to mute gaps) that is affecting sound quality. External DACs do in digital processing.

After doing some research on DACS and some more critical listening today and some needed fine tuning on speaker positions (they were inadvertently moved a tad recently), I've decided what I have sounds fine + will most likely stay put.

Most issues I hear appear to be unique to specific recordings.

If I were to invest more in my system at this point, I think it would be in a more powerful amp to flush out the low end even further with the Ohm 5's. Those babys love the juice man! They suck up the power and convert it into increased presence and dynamics without going the slightest bit harsh.

My only urge is to perhaps be able to add even more impact to the recordings that have good dynamic range, like the large scale symphonic works, to see how far things can go.

If I bumped up my amp, I'd probably stick with a larger Musical Fidelity in that things are sounding, dare I say, near perfect.

OR more reasonably, I should probabably say things are sounding near perfect TO MY EARS!

The more I listen,, the faster I always come back to the conclusion that in the end, other than having decent components that work well together as a system, all that really matters otherwise is what sounds good to each individual.

Mapman, if you're not hearing glare or haze and you can listen for hours on end, then you've got a fine setup. The fact that a small move of the speakers made a significant difference to you tells me that you're really tuned into small distortions. If those are removed, then a system change can make things sound "different" but it becomes agureable if they're "better." That's for you to decide. I think you've gone about this logically and reached an appropriate conclusion.

Dave