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Poor man's reference DAC

I am looking for a DAC in the $3000 range to match with my system. I am hoping for a reference DAC that I can later add a transport to once the funds are available. I know this price point is a little light for a reference DAC but it is what I can afford. I was going to buy the Birdland Odeon Ag with reclocker but once you open the door you start to find other items. I am interested in other views so I can start researching these DACs. The newest item I have read about is the Harmonix DAP-777. Very favorable reviews. Anything else out there that I should think about?

I have the following set-up:

Rowland Synergi IIi preamp
Rowland M201 mono amps
Meridian 588 CD player
CAL CL-10 multi disc player
B & W Nautalus 802 speakers
Audio Note Cerulean cables
Audio Magic power conditioners

I listen to vocalists mostly and accustic music. All reply are appreciated.
bryanhod
panny
99 posts
 
Where is there a review of the Audio Logic DAC and what is their homepage?

TIA
sean
6,231 posts
 
I know a lot of people that wish they were "poor enough" to be able to afford a $3K DAC. Where's the welfare line and how do we sign up??? Life must be tough just getting by with those "bare necessities" : ) Sean
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whitesandbluewater
18 posts
 
You got to check out the perpetual technology dac. It is wide range of upgrades available to it. It is a very nice sounding dac. A great toe tapping dac.
perose
40 posts
 
The Benchmark I a great initial review in Stereophile and when JA did a follow-up he said it was almost as good as his reference Levinson. Seriously consider the recommendation about going with an all in one player. There are some great ones out there and it's something to seriously consider. I have the new Sony XA9000ES and it spanks my Perpetual P1/P3 stack.
rcprince
3,070 posts
 
Bryanhod: As a long-time owner of the Audio Logic, I'll fifth it. The strengths of the Audio Logic are a very natural presentation of the performance and dynamics, reproduction of timbre, non-fatiguing sound, excellent three-dimensional soundstaging and that elusive "musicality". You can also do a bit of tube-rolling in them, particularly with the 12AU7s in the pre-24mxl models, to add more or less lushness to the sound for your taste. The weaknesses depend on the iteration you get--older Model 34s were a little weaker in the bass, the later 34s with the 20-bit chipset and the 2400 are substantially better in that respect and excellent overall in that area, though probably still not state of the art (Jerry O will update all units as far as you want to go with them). And with all versions you probably lose that last bit of resolution you might get from a Levinson or Wadia, for example, though in my experience the Audio Logic is far more "alive" sounding than those units, which sound artificial and sterile to me in comparison. It may or may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it definitely is an overachiever and bargain for its price, especially used. Panny, AL has no website; there is a nice review on the site that Audiogon's Manufacturer Lookup link provides, and I wrote a thoroughly unprofessional review of it (discussing the latest transformer upgrade to it) on this site.
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