DAC for my HHB Burnit


I posted this over at AA, but thought maybe I'd reach a different audience over here (my apologies for cross-readers).

I'd like to improve upon my HHB Burnit, which I use as a player. Check out the players description and specs here.

I'd like a DAC that I can leave on all the time, and that doesn't need to be out in open view (so it can stay behind a closed cabinet door).

I value a more upfront presentation; palpable images, liquid, yet detailed. Don't necessarily need all the bass.

My first thoughts were something from Bel Canto, Birdland, or Perpetual P-1, P-3...

Thanks for any suggestions!
128x128dennis_the_menace
MSB Gold link III. It does it all and sounds great. Very similar in sound to the Meridian 508.24 player, if you are familar with that.

For cheap you might be able to find a Meridian 563, which is a nice unit. It does do up sampling or any frequencies higher that 48 but it sound really good.
At one time I owned an Wadia 860x, which I loved. For whatever reason, it sounded great in my system. I'm guessing the P3a and the Benchmark 1 would be close in sound to the Wadia.

The meridian sounds like it'd be too laid back.

I'll make sure i get a good digital cable, thanks Bigkidz. I think the recommended length is 1.5m, right?
Kimber (Illuminati) D60 digital cable is quite nice. Don't know anything about suggested proper lengths, though.
Hi Steve, from ownership experience I can state that the BurnIT, while an excellent recorder, does not make a playback transport capable of matching the sound quality of a DAC like your old Wadia, not to mention the rest of your system. The transport is half the equation sound-wise. If you were to get an outboard DAC, I think you'd eventually want to complement it with a worthy transport. Although I still happily cling to my Theta 2-box front end, if I was starting over again today, I'd just look for a satisfactory 1-box playback solution instead. The recorder, plus the DAC, plus the transport, plus maybe an anti-jitter unit, adds up to a lot of boxes, which means a lot of interconnects and power cords too (trust me, I know whereof I speak ;^). I'd say keep it simple and keep it separate, but if you do go the DAC route, just be mindful that you can't maximize it by using the HHB as your transport. (FWIW after the preceding, I'm converted to van den Hul carbon interconnects for both analog and digital now - for S/PDIF RCA, it's The First Ultimate, 1m being fine. But I still think good 1-box is the way to go and save the money.)
ugh... just what i didn't want to hear alex. well, my other thought, as i still (believe it or not), don't have a dvd player, would be to get a muse model 9, as my player, and use it for dvd playback as well. but i have no idea what it's sonic signature is, just that people rave about it (anything they don't rave about?... oh yeh, my HHB + a DAC... ;)