transport/dac combo beats any one-box player...

yah, I know I'm askin' for it here- but I don't care! It's Friday afternoon, Thanksgiving is almost here, and it's pretty much deadsville at the office, so here we go:

I'm inviting comments on the title of the thread. I recently sold my AA Capitole- initally enraptured by the midrange, later realized all musical information was not being retrieved (confirmed by Audiophile friends whom I respect when tested in their system as well), and bass lacking. Also- don't even get me started on how disappointing the Gamut CD-1 was- talk about NO BASS!!!! Ironically, the best one-box player I've owned I now wish I hadn't sold- The Sim Audio Eclipse- phenomenal detail retrieval and air, and best bass I have ever heard from a one-box, but I sold it due to the 'upsampling' craze going on, and the fact that the Cap could drive my modded Altec 'battleship' (165wpc in triode using only a pair of 811 output tubes) tube monoblocks direct. Also, was able to get rid of a DCS Purcell upsampler at the same time- and the mids on the Cap did seem more alluring at the time, as well as being able to move from three boxes (Eclipse; Purcell; and an ARC preamp) down to one.

SO- after selling EVERYTHING off, I am looking to ramp up in digital again (considered analog- but have no records, and don't have space for a TT). Just picked up a cool old transport- Esoteric P1- get this- tested this transport in to the digital 'in' on the Capitole, and the result KILLED the Capitole running full range- WAYYYY better PRAT. So I am now convinced- a transport/dac combo IS the best way to go. Believe it or not, I heard another transport/dac combo last weekend that was great- Vecteur transport and Audiomat Tempo dac- DAMN they were good- in fact, we did a blind a/b test b/w that combo and a Nottingham TT analog setup using the SAME record/disc- the latest Tom Waits offering. We cued both up and simply switched back and forth b/w inputs on the integrated amp, and wow- the digital combo was very close to the analog- yes, the record had a bit more air and slightly more dynamics, but after hearing how close the trans/dac combo was, I am now rejuvenated, after almost giving up on digital. The build quality on the French transport and Audiomat dac was impressive to say the least, and it translated to the sound as well- and the Dac is SS, which surprised me as well.

I am extremely interested in how the Audio Note Dacs sound- apparently they are incredible and everyone I have spoken to says the new 3.1x balanced version is the way to go- THIS will probably be the next acquisition, followed by, or in tandem with, a GNS (Steve Huntley) superclock/cap/power supply upgrade to the Esoteric P1 transport that he feels puts it in the league of, or above, CEC.

So- that's it- unless someone convinces me otherwise, for under $10k total cost, transport/dac combos are the way to go over one-box players. Bring on the comments...