Absolute top tier DAC for standard res Redbook CD

Matt, agree 100% with everything you shared. Ya, to add the cost off the Offramp and Dynamo power supply to the Aeris or Big 6 is more money. These combos may well sound better to you, but it does come at a price.

I firmly believe a Lampi L4 with the Offramp and Dynamo sound better than a Big 6 alone with a Mini. You see what I am saying. Give whatever dac your listening to the best fuel you can with your Mini.

I am sure the OD dac is stellar on its own and with Steve's OR technology built in, it will be no surprise to me if you end up keeping it over all others!

I have tasted what Steve's units can do for digital and it is very special. Sure, other gear may do this or that Aphile thing better, but the music sounds so darn real and natural. You have no idea your listening to a digital front end. Very special. Hard to live without once you have had it in your room. All glare and digital artifacts are banished and the music just flows with less of an electronic nature to it.

Grannyring,
You're expressing much admiration for Steve's Empirical Audio products. Are there any regrets now that you've moved on to your Aesthetix Romulus or am I misreading your comments? Lampy with Off Ramp vs Romulus CD player.
Charles,

I like my Romulus player more than the Lampi/Offramp combo. It is an amazing player that is so natural and full bodied in presentation. Very few know about it, but it draws me into the music more and is just more musical to me. Aphile terms don't explain it, just an ease that invites.

Remember, I don't have a computer front end anymore. If I did, then an Offramp and Dynamo power supply in front of the Romulus would be a must. The combo would be stellar I am sure. I just don't want to deal with the rigors of computer based audio at this time in my life. Downloads, ripping, back-up, computer details etc...

Right now my music collection is more enjoyable with the Romulus as a one box solution.

Good point Charles1dad, LOL!, however, I have followed this thread from the beginning, Matt's tast in sound is alot like my own, He has got my interest jumping about the ODSE!

DS will be interesting. A reviewer found equally excellent results from all digital inputs where with PWD MKII, bridge was the best. So with DS, maybe don't need OffRamp for best results?

From the review:

www.audiophilia.com/wp/?p=13620

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Because I was perplexed by my observations that the DS (unlike the PWD) was insensitive to USB versus ethernet (for sound quality), I asked him about such things.

Smith: ‘I’ve tried to make the DirectStream as input agnostic as I can: the FPGA knows no difference between the HDMI socket I2S inputs, USB or the Bridge (all are I2S to the FPGA). Any differences that are left are things like ground loops and radiation from high speed signals that might interfere with the rest of an audio system.

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If I was in the market for a new DAC, I would investigating something like Bryston BDP-2 to stream the data. It buffers data before play so SQ will be same from all storage device types, don't need a computer ...