Any opinions on the AMR Digital Processor 777 Dac?

I cannot comment on USB since I use a traditional transport (Theta Compli) -- with a RCA ASI digital cable. In my rig, it is fabulous. Most of my CD's are standard resolution. I can tell you that they have never sounded better. Alison Krauss is in the room. Soundstage & imaging freaky good. I have heard (owned) DACs with more detail but lacked the emotion and "magic" of the 777. I am sure there are better out there but I have not heard one. And at $5K this is a steal (for my setup). In addition, all other DACs I have owned with volume controls either thinned out the sound (sterile) or lacked punch (or not enough volume). Thus I can free up thousands due to eliminating a separate preamp. I have no ties to AMR although Darren (Importer) is an exceptional representative. I will repeat the "break-in" mantra...it is night /day once there are 500 hours on it (compared w/ brand new).

F1a: No.

Ok, I'll give the review another read, and email JA re his assessment.

Fla, According to the AMR distributor, JA didn't measure all the parameters in the proper way. Plus, if you really believe in measurement, Benchmark DAC-1 has the best numbers you can get from any modern DAC. I still own my DAC-1 and believe for the money there's no better DAC, but here I am, spending 5 times the money to buy another DAC, expecting better musicality and worse measurements.

350 hours on my DP-777 now, and the sound starts to stabilize, the tubed SPDIF input sounds best so far, the USB input is nowhere close to its own SPDIF or my Off-Ramp4 (with dual clock and battery options) connected to SPDIF. I bought a Macbook Pro and it's slightly better than my optimized PC, but without Off-Ramp4 the AMR has no magic with PC or Mac. I'll report back after 500 hours, but I doubt the USB will ever catch up.

For me, there are only two reasons to buy AMR DP-777: the tubed SPDIF input and the classic DAC. All the other options (HD Dac, filters, volume, USB) are good to have, and works above average Hi-Fi, but not stellar.

Jeffga, as much as I like the DP-777 I won't give it A+ if I am a Stereophile reviewer. The Grace M903 is less of a DAC and more of a headphone amp, and it does the headphone amp job extremely well, I have no problem giving it A+, but will probably move it to the headphone and accessory section, not the DAC section.