What would you buy Sub $350 Firewire/USB DAC

Music_prof, what Tobias says omits a very simple face, at least IMHO, isolation transformers, indeed almost all ac filtering or conditioning devices, do more harm than they than good. There is one clear exception to this, again IMHO, the Synergistic Research PowerCell. It is not cheap, however. I have no recommendations that are cheap, except nothing.

Tbg raises one of the hobby's all-but-innumerable controversies. He is on his 47th system, according to his system page, so clearly he is entitled to his opinion. There are others whose mileage varies; see posts in the archives here by Sean and Lak, among others.

My own experience is that there is no downside whatsoever to running a costly digital source from an isolation transformer of adequate size and quality, and none either to running a cheaper one from a small, cheap iso tranny. Note the word cheap. What is especially appealing about this tweak is its excellent (IMVHO) return on investment.

The power conditioning controversy has extreme positions and moderate ones, like all controversies. The extremist on the positive side uses active devices, sometimes mass-market ones with MOV surge protection, on all his gear, even power amplifiers. The purist finds no conditioner of any real help, especially not on power amplifiers where it tends to limit current supply. The isolation transformer, used on a DAC, falls pretty close to the purist position.

Too bad you did not go Blue Circle Thingee - great sound and very simple to use. I have found CA product is not a warm enough sound for my taste.

Try Frank at Signal Cable - good quality IC's and Power Cords too - for the money, Frank is hard to beat.

Did you allow the unit to have a good burn-in period before making a final judgment? After a couple of weeks, I have to say this unit sounds very good for the money. Admittedly, I have a laid back system (B&W speakers, Musical Fidelity amplifier) so it seems a good match.

Again, I'm very pleased with the imaging, dynamic bass, silky mid range, and satisfied with the reasonably well behaved high end. As for how this compares to the NOS DACs, I can't really say. I listen to a loot of Jazz and Classical in addition to ambient, electronica, rock, non-commercial country/regional music, and the authenticity of the instruments seems very good for the price.

This is not the best quality that I've heard (that would be a wonderful turntable with a fantastic cartridge--I forget what they were exactly) but I think that this unit offers good value for the money.

Music Prof