Absolute top tier DAC for standard res Redbook CD

I have been at so many stores over the last many months and have now heard nearly everything you can think of. I have found only a handful of stores that I even like and would do business in. I was shocked considering what a tough time it is. That's another subject for another thread though.

Matt, John was here setting up my new system last week and he too can't wait to get the unit in and burned in. You should give him a call on it to see if he has any time frame.

Matt, I wouldn't pretend to having read most of what is posted here. Can you please tell me what ODSE stands for?

ODSE is the Emprical Audio OverDrive DAC SE version, by Steve Nugent....make of the OffRanmp converter (fo example).

Matt said... "I am pretty sure the Rowland Aeris is also software driven. I bet that the right firmware update could make the Aeris untouchable."

You are correct Matt, Rowland Aeris is driven by a large FPGA which performes a variety of master functions, including FIFO jitter elimination and control of a 24-bit DAC module.
I have no information about what a hypothetical Aeris FPGA firmware update might achieve... Meantime, the best way to use Aeris is to feed it through SPDIF... Aeris performance is optimized through its transformer-coupled SPDIF coax input, ideally fed from a transformer-coupled source, such as the Bryston BDP1 or BDP-2 music servers.

Purely conjectural on my part, sound may be further enhanced by the use of an SSD as a storage medium, to eliminate jitter caused by inter-sector disk head seek delays.
G.

Admittedly, in the end the above does not imply that you would necessarily prefer Aeris over OverDrive or other DAC... DAC preference is, very much like paraphrasing female beauty, in the... ears of the beholder *grins!*

G

Great thread. The only problem is the ODSE is made by one man at his time table.

Basically he takes the money up front.
He told me when I ordered (a different item than the ODSE) that he would build my unit when he has enough orders to make several in a row. When I tried to persuade him to build mine quicker, he said it was summer time and he was not going to be tied to a schedule.

Now Matt you may get special treatment due to this thread, but I didn't.
Just a heads up for you guys that want to part with your $8000.