Tube or SS DAC/Player with Tube Preamp?

YOu currently have a very neutral tube preamp in the SF2, so I wouldn't be too weary of using a tube dac section. That stated, swapping out tubes in your preamp may be more forward in getting the sound characteristics you like.

As for a DAC or CD combo? $2,000, no problem, do you mind having money left over?

My experience with tube dacs has been positive. I have a CAL Audio Aria in a bedroom system which is tubed and I have demod the Cal 24/96 Alpha dac and a friends Sonic Frontiers CD1 (for sale now) all very nice pieces, but I'd rather point you to a real gem that's solid state

THe EVS Millenium II Dac at $1050 has the most neutral sound and incredible detail. Ric at tweakaudio.com is a real pleasure to deal with and offers a 30 day money back guarantee. His DAC upsamples and has a hearty power supply. He sells at wholesale prices and really has a passion for developing high end audio at reasonable prices. I'm still burning mine in, so I'll hold back on my comments, but have been very impressed so far. Check out the reviews at audioreview.com or do a search here or at audioasylum

Transport? A Cal Audio Labs Delta is an excellent choice and can be had used for around $400

there's still plenty of money left over for the connecting cables and some new cds

I prefer to limit the number of places where my sound can be colored as much as tube rolling can do. Hence, with the tube pre (a fine choice there, by the way) you've got the key place to control your sound with tubes. I disagree with those who intimate that ss cannot deliver good sound - it can and does (I always thought highly of Bryston, by way of example). But it does reduce your sound tweaking options, a fact some find useful and others find restrictive.

So I can't give you a direct answer to your question, because I don't know what you want to do - is it part of the fun for you to fool around with your sound by tube rolling and cable swapping, or are you trying to obtain a specific sound from your system? For the former, go tube DAC or player, for the latter, go with the best SS you can find. By the way, what are you using for a CD source currently? Maybe you could up the budget on the DAC if you kept your current source (if it has reasonable digital out)?

chas

Since technically SS output is matched with any input impedance I would go for SS. It is not guaranteed that it'll sound better than tube since we all have different ears. On my opinion most of the tube designs have colouration of sound rather than details. Some people like it some people don't.

End your search for a DAC by purchasing the Kora Hermes at 1500 on Audiogon - it use to sell for 3795 in 1998 and has since been upgraded to 24/192. It is a great sounding and looking piece that happens to have tubes. Whether it sounds great with my ECM 1 because of that is beyond me. I use it with a tube amp on the top (McIntosh 2102) and a solid state amp the 352 for lower end. I recently tried a Perpetual tech P-1A digital correction between the ECM and Kora and it really naturalized the digital sound even beyond my hopes for regular CD playback. It sells for 500-1000 on audiogon. These two even make my lesser transport (Pioneer 65) sound great too. Good luck!