Absolute top tier DAC for standard res Redbook CD

I would not believe it if not for my recent experience. I had an Apple 2009 mini with Mojo Audio power supply, large SSD drive, all the software mods, and the improvement was the single biggest audio upgrade I had ever made.

Bill, I thought you sold your Offramp?

My roommate used the Lampi7 in his room in Chicago Axpona. He says the Overdrive beats it too.

Vapor I presume. Different speakers and systems. Hard to ground that statement in any objective reality without blinded and/or side-by-side comparisons, and thus the potential contribution of Mattnshilp with his OCD Dac extravaganza!!!

The problem with DACs is that the field continues to evolve rapidly and whatever you choose is likely to depreciate precipitously. Compared to most other component categories, it's hard to choose a DAC for the long haul and have it hold up.

Isn't that the gospel truth...

Obviously it's all subjective and some will take anyone's word on what THEY think is the best, but this is fun stuff. I'm interested in what Matt has to say. Sounds like all of the DAC's in this thread are getting a ton of good press and in the right system, room, folks wont' go wrong. It all depends on what you like etc... This is one of the best threads going on the board now. thanks to all of you who are helping out.

Agear, I have three dacs presently. One is the stock BMC PureDac, which I use with a music server source. It has a "analog" volume control, which of course, isn't really analogue, but it sounds very good through a line stage with the PureDac set at 59 volume. Second I have an Exemplar eXpo T-105 universal play based on the Oppo 105. It is my only transport, but having a music server results in my seldom playing cds or sacds. Since you can input via USB I do use it as a dac. Finally, I have an Empirical Audio Legacy dac that plays everything in double DSD. I even have some original recordings in double DSD. I suspect this last dac will put me ahead of the wave for a few months! It is nice to not have to use Itunes to organize my music and having to deal with its being dedicated to just playing MP3.

Matt.. One point about the PSA DirectStream.. I'm not sure if you're getting the kit or a fresh unit, but in any case the DS needs a good 200+ hours to really get it's mojo going.. It's good right of the box but it does need some serious break-in.. And fyi it doesn't sound anything like a PWD MKII..