Best Digital Source That Money Can Buy?

Mrtennis, I haven't compared to the PD to the AMR, so I can't comment on that, but many of us would consider the "amr's flexibility for changes in tubes and sampling rate" to be negative. If changing a tube can improve the sound, then that implies a weakness in the designer's unit as distributed.

I think those two things (circuit design and sampling rate) are the designer's responsibility and would hope that I couldn't improve upon the designer's choices.

BTW, I never have figured out why people put tubes in DACs. Is there any technical advantage to doing this?

Dave

Will Playback Designs be at CES this year and if so what venue.

Jonathan Tinn told me that PD would be at CES. I'll write him to see which venue.

Dave

hi dave:

the term "improve the sound" needs to be defined.

i will define it subjectively as any change in performance that i prefer is an improvement in sound. thus, changing the tubes in a tube component presents an opportunity to improve the sound. any change in the sampling rate is an opportunity to improve the sound. any change in power cords, interconnects, etc., is a chance to improve the sound of a stereo system.

if you imply that reducing inaccuracy is the definition of sonic improvement, then you and i disagree with the concept of improvement in sound.

you and i have had this conversation before. ultimately, the owner of a stereo system will do what is feasible to create a presentation which satisfies his/her sonic priorities. from your perspective such efforts may not improve the sound, but rather make it worse.

i personally prefer components which allow the owner to affect changes in its sound. hence, i prefer tubes, tone controls and other user "controls" to allow me to voice the sound of my stereo system according to my wishes.

tinker and listen. one man's trash is another man's treasure.

hi dave:

let me add another point.

i think the sound of any component can be improved by changing caps and resistors, based upon my subjective orientation of "improve".