Any better DAC then dCS Scarlatti?

Ditto what Chayro, Cerrot & Elizabeth said. I have the distinct pleasure of listening to Jonathan's MPS-5 at a close friends house here in the Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area on a regular basis. It's an incredible unit, I never thought that redbook CD could sound so stunningly real. My friend has the MPS-5 in what must be one of the very top tier systems in the nation, and plays a great deal of large scale classical music on his system, which sounds as close to real live music as I have ever heard. Bravo.

I can't believe that you are wondering if there is a DAC
better than what you own?

You have some of the finest in High-End Audio, at some
point, you have to be satisfied with what you have.

True Joy is not found in "things", you can go through each
DAC in the world, and you will still be "looking" for
the "Best".

A friend of mine, once had Esoteric,DCS, Wadia, Spectral,
and is now with Meridian products, I think.

Most of us, would take any 1 of the above, and be "set!"

But then, there are those, that are trying to find
"happiness" in "things", and are never satisfied.

If the Scarlatti stack, fails to satisfy, what will?

Does it make "Music?" if so, what is the problem?

Who are you trying to please?

I Love My Music!

Audio Note!

I would find any info on these high end DAC's useful. I have yet to find one that I think sounds better than the Boulder 2020. I'm sure that one may exist that would suit my tastes even more. I've had the EMM CDSA and the Meridian 808.1 in my system and they both sounded less detailed with less control over the bass. They seemed to try to create musicality by "blurring" the details to a degree. In my system, the only thing I think I lack is some "rosin on the bow" with strings. I imagine there may be a player out there that still provides all of the detail with 2% more "lushness". If someone is aware of what that would be, please share. Of note, I have heard the playback designs in a SET based system that I thought sounded fantastic, but a bit dark (but that would be splitting hairs).

Bflowers, before I bought the APL I audiotioned several players and dac combos, among them were the Big Weiss stack(Jason/Medea), the big MBL(1621/1611), the small Boulder 1012, separates the Boulder 1021, the Emm CDSA, the Arc CD7.
Weiss - detailed with good bass
MBL - big and bold
Boulder - balanced but a little to dry

Later I heard the big DCS, which I find to harsh/edged

The APL excels in live like dynamics and drive it has physical presence and liquidity. All this is of course IMHO.