DAC's, i'm lost

Good - PS Audio DL III
Better - Wyred 4 Sound DAC-1

I agree with Sonnyyoung and also recommend

the Tranquility DAC with a Ridge Street Audio Poiema or Alethias USB cable or the dbauidolabs The Essential USB cable.

Morrow MAP4s wouldn't hurt either to make the connection to the preamp.

I cannot imagine you wouldn't like the Tranquility.

One important thing, think about the power cord used to feed the DAC... affects things more than you might imagine!

:) listening,

Ed

I LOVE my Wavelength Proton DAC it's asychncrous USB and $900

Great recommendations above. Haven't owned or heard a Tranquility (sadly), but I thought it was worth pointing out that it is limited to 16/44.1 (CD quality) output. Most other DACs here can do 24/96 or 24/192. The significance of this will depend on whether or no you will be playing hi-rez files. That said, the Tranquility also has a wonderful reputation, and I believe there is a trial period for these DACs. And ultimately, this will be about which DAC sounds best in your system, according to your audio/musical preferences.

Logitech Squeezebox Touch for $300 or less. Nice DACs and amazing performance for the money. I love mine, and when I plugged it into a friend's system (he has the same speakers as I do) bypassing his new Wyred4Sound DAC, we were both amazed at the high quality of the "Touch"...it has it's own sound and somehow it works.