Buy a DAC or buy an SACD player?

MSB Link DAC is fine. Forget the HDCD chip and spend that money by sending it to Stan Warren in Oregon for modification. Search his name to get more information.

I'll try to even out the count here. So far, it looks like MSB is winning : )

Honestly though, i would go for a REASONABLY priced DAC at this point in time. With that in mind, i prefer the CAL Alpha or Sigma over the MSB's. While it is a matter of personal taste / system synergy, i really don't think that there is much competition between the two. Keep in mind that i'm talking about STOCK unmodified units and not "hand tweaked" units.

If you wanted to get into the expense of buying a mass produced unit and then tweaking it, why not just start with a unit that was "tweaked" from the ground up like an EVS Millennium II ??? It offers all of the resolution of a SS DAC with the liquidity and smoothness of tubes. On top of this, it upsamples and has the switch selectable option of phase reversal.

Most of the other DAC's at this price point are using chips that cost less than $5 apiece ( including the MSB ) whereas the ones that Ric uses cost appr $25 each. Quite honestly, Ric has well over $500 in raw parts in this unit, so i have NO idea how he can cover all of the labor involved in building these units one by one AND offer a money back guarantee. At $1050 with a 30 day trial period, i can't see anything else coming close for redbook. In a direct comparison, it blew my Alpha clean out of the water..... Sean
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I'm with Sean on this one. I've been using an EVS Millennium DAC 1(the original version--trading up for the DAC II soon) and have been absolutely amazed at the openness, transparency, dynamics, tonality, etc. that this piece provides. It made my MSB Link(with Dusty Vawter upgrades) sound veiled and slow by comparison, and I can't imagine listening without this DAC in my system. Only problem is you may have to wait a little while to get a DAC II, although I know Ric is in the process of ramping up production so may not be as much as an issue. Definately worth the wait, and like Sean said there's an honest 30-day money back guarantee, but I seriously doubt you'd use it once you hear what this DAC will do for your system. One caveat: I don't think there is an HDCD option for the DAC II, but I'd bet even those disks will sound better in non-HDCD with the DAC II(I also have a few HDCD disks and don't even give it a second thought). Give Ric a call and he'll give you the straight poop(www.tweakaudio.com).

As for SACD, there's really not much software now and you'll just have to buy another player later to handle DVD-A and/or multi-channel SACD. Of course there's also the impending digital output connection--I absolutely will not buy any of these new formats until they have digital outs. Obviously I believe the DAC is the better way to go in service of your current CD collection. Best of luck.

Tim

Dave:
I´m in the same situation.....
My intent is to get a good sounding DAC for improving my CD playback and lessen the new digital "itch" and wait for the multiple player / dominating format soup to "reduce".

I'll jump in and wholeheartedly recommend along with Sean and Tim the EVS Millenium II.

Ric is down to a two week wait time now, and a 30 day money back clause. go to tweakaudio.com

this upsampling 24/192 dac is blowing away stereophile class a pieces like Audio Research DAC3 and Meridan 508.24

check out the reviews at audioreview.com under dacs