I am not a big friend of Digital, because all the years I listened at Demo's to the most expensive units ( ML, Krell, Wadia etc....) I always thought: ".............the sound is not worth the price ...........I don't hear what is so good with these units .....and so on " The dCS Demo was the first were I really thought, that the presentation is SO MUCH better than everything before I heard, that I invested more time with these units. The Elgar / Delius alone ( DAC ) is very, very good. I think it is because they construct their own Processors. Believe me, I love Analog, and this unit is extremely good ( for Digital ). With the Purcell ( D/D Converter = Upsampling to 176,4 or 192 khz ) the Sun is rising. More high frequencies, more air, wide presentation and so on without the usual digital artifacts. A friend who listend to my combo went a few days later to someone else who wanted to sell a Wadia 860. After 5 minutes my friend asked the owner to stop the demo. It was total different, typical digital ............. I think upsampling alone is not the secret, it is the combination - like I wrote - with their own electronics ( processors ......), because some other maufacturers offer 192 khz too, but they don't reach dCS. These are really unique. The main advantage with these is - the upgradability for the future based on software, DSD possible - millions of used CD's are out there and all can be listened dramatically improved. I can wait total relaxed for the future, I survived the HDCD hype, I will see what is going on with SACD or DVD-A, and when something is going on with these seriously I send my dCS units back for upgrade when new outputs ( firewire ) are necessary. It is like a premium record player: It doesn't get old
There are some dealer demo's out there. Not because they are bad, because of the upgrade prices for dsd from dCS. It is very expensive for dealers, so they give them out to order new ones.
But for interested ones who are waiting with cash, they can do a REAL BARGAIN now.
