Berkeley DAC Series 1, anything better 2.5K$

Any new dac I would buy would have to include DSD playback. There are a lot of small recording studios starting to produce some very nice recordings in DSD. I am thrilled with my Auralic Vega and a lot of audiophiles like the Mytec. The Computer Audiophile site is great for info.

Soix and Essrand,

I have owned a lot of DACs. Most are overrated -- and overpriced. Harley makes you think you died and went to heaven with the Berkeley series 1. Don't believe everything you read. Reading between the lines is very useful. But letting your ears be the judge is the most important thing, of course.

The NAD M51 is a sleeper -- very much under the radar, IMO. It easily beats a lot of higher priced DACs. It beats the Berkeley in sheer musicality. If you want to break it down into parameters then that includes detail/definition, tonality, transparency, dynamics, sound stage and imaging. But you do need to get your cabling right. The sound can vary greatly depending on the cables you use. One might ascribe certain attributes to a component that actually belong to the cables that are attached to that component.

If you can, check out the wavelength brick. It's special,
and a steal at the price.

Charles1Dad,

Thanks!! I will give them buzz to find out if I can listen to the Yamamotos.

Pbrennan, I found an store in San Francisco that I did not know existed stocking Wavelength Audio, will check them out too.

Am excited that my M51 is arriving tomorrow.

Essrand,

I'd be interesting in reading your impressions of the NAD M51.