Berkeley Audio Design Alpha DAC Owners?


I find this DAC fascinating because of its versatility and adaptability. Seems to be capable of handling just about anything coming down the pike.
But, I'm surious about its sound with redbook CDs as well as HDCD and standard CD transports. If I were to purchase one I would use in this capacity for the immediate future with an eye to higher res down the road.
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Computer Audiophile thinks this is on par with the Weiss Minerva. UltraAudio Jeff Fritz said the Weiss Minerva was the best CD he had experienced, better than Arc CD7 and Esoteric X03.
I have compared the Weiss with MBL top transport and dac on very short listen, the Weiss is very good!
Thanks for the response.

I have seen some of Jeff Fritz's comments, but they are mainly focused on the fact that 24-bit/176.4kHz, etc., resolutions are far superior to redbook, and that the Minerva and Alpha One give you access to these resolutions, whereas standalone CD players don't.

I have seen his comment about the ARC CD7 vs. the Minerva but I was hopeful of something that was a bit more substantive. I'm not slighting Jeff here at all - I respect him as a reviewer - but it seems clear from his review that he didn't have the CD7 on hand for comparison when he made his comments (he was moving from a different, inferior DAC to the Minerva), and the CD7 isn't even an ARC current model.

Because aural memories are inherently unreliable, for people like me who are making an "in lieu of" instead of an "in addition to" purchasing decision between CD players and the Alpha One DAC, it would be great to find someone who has done a real time, side by side comparison of their redbook performances.
I think he compared the redbook performance as well and found it to be superior with the Minerva. I have listened to the Weiss Jason/Medea combo and find it to be one of the best around but I still thinks the Minerva is close to the MBL 1621/1611E combo on redbook.
Yes, the dealer list is very short and poorly distributed geographically, especially in the center of the country. Unfortunate, as I would like an opportunity to give one a listen.
They are a relatively new company and maybe (hopefully) this situation will change in the near future.