PS Audio DL 3 or MF Tri Vista 21 DAC?

I vote for the PS Audio. For the price this is a very good DAC. Many review have been done as well on the Digital Link lll. Absolute Sound did a review March 2007 as Positive Feedback did one in Jan2007. Check their web sites for the reviews. I also think 6 moons did a review on a modded one.
I feel this is one of the better DAC for the price. Again you could spend more and not gain much. And yes, a good cable makes a big difference IMHO.
I have not listened to the MFTV21.

Have two DL3s and enjoy them because of the lack of hard edge in the treble. They are are easily upgraded.
Using Analysis Plus and Kimber Illuminations digital cable with the edge going to the AP.
First heard the units at RMAF2007 and they sounded quite good in several systems.

Brian, perhaps we have a misunderstanding of clocks. When I speak of reclocking, I mean the quartz oscillators that all DACS have. Yes, there are other DACS that have jitter attenuators that go by other names, but essentially they all do the same thing, attenuate jitter.

And yes, perhaps Farjamed's Onkyo transport and some relatively cheap digital cable alongside either of these DACS my satisfy him, he will not be hearing the full potential of either of those DACs. My own, and plenty of other people have found transports and digital cables can make a huge difference. Go back through the archives and see tons of opinions on this. I've even seen reviews and opinions on the Esoteric DACs benefitting from better transports and digital cables.

Bottom line. Farjamed may be better off with the DAC setup or he may be better off with CDP, I would like to hear a Cambridge 840 (perhaps some other CDPs) vs. this DAC setup.

Finally, I suspect Farjamed may be better off with a DAC with USB input if he's not willing to invest in a higher grade transport and digital cables.

Sns..

You eluded to the main reason I am choosing to go with the DAC vs a better cdp. Soon, as in within the next few months, I would like to implement a music server based off the Mac mini and apple lossless. As much as I like cd's, and the physicality of actually picking one out, putting it in the tray, and listening to an album as a whole, I also love the practicality of having it all at your fingertips.

So essentially, the way I see it, the fact the DAC will improve my onkyo dvd/cdp is a little bonus. If I did not intend to build a music server I would probably just go with a better dedicated cdp.

Thanks for all the input guys.

If music server is your future, then you should absolutely consider the Wavelength asynchronous USB DACs. They get around jitter (though not entirely) by having the DAC clock manage the audio stream instead of the computer - which is much less reliable.

Of all the computer based DACs I've listened to and owned, it is far and away the smoothest to my ears.