DACs: Burmester vs. Meitner vs. dcs

I concur with Timo- If you have the means to get any of these listen to all of them! Having heard the Meitner and dCS the same day, I came to the conclusion that the Meitner was superior on every level. I have not had the chance to listen extensively to Burmester. However others whom I know and trust have, and they feel it is nice but not worth the price of admission and that there are other "better" components out there. These guys have the ability to purchase such gear if they felt it was better they would have it- and they all own Meitner!

I was so blown away by the Emm labs(meitner gear) I prepaid for mine right after the show(montreal) and am eagerly awaiting delivery. I have NEVER heard digital sound the way it does with Emm labs gear, I have heard that from many others as well- and I have never heard that about Burmester.

But you should do some listening, for the money you could potentially save- how could you not!

Libor, a new DAC I think you should add to your audition list is the new Audio Synthesis DAX Discrete.

Audio Synthesis DAX Discrete

after hearing all three at the Stereophile show in San Francisco this past weekend......it is not close; the Meitner was a good deal better than the other 2 on redbook.....and light-years better on sacd. i went back to these rooms multiple times to really get a feel for the sources......ultimately since they were in different systems my conclusions are provisional. also consider i am a Meitner owner and therefore not completely unbiased.

the Meitner is not only more natural sounding and dynamic than either of the other two......but also has more detail and body......very analog-like......and a much more complete soundstage.

both the dCS and Burmeister are certainly excellent......but just not at the level of the Meitner.

What Mike and Tim (Tireguy) said!

Mike L.,
I understand that you stated, "since they were in different systems my conclusions are provisional"................how can you come to ANY conclusions at all about the contribution of the CD transports and DACs when the systems are different???

Even if you are familiar with the gear that was used in the DCS or Burmester room, there are other variables like cables, the room itself, power conditioning...............