Best mid priced DAC for use with Cal Audio CL 15?

I have a CL-15, to the best of my knowledge those only came with a digital input. Did yo or someone else have the player modded? Take a look and let me know. Zach

I should have read the manual.

I don't know if it is within your budget, but I just bought a Sony SCD-777ES, not the XA777ES. My system has evolved to the point that it was REALLY showing the digital harshness of the Cal. BTW, see your other thread about cables I posted some suggestions for you there as well.

The transport is less critical in my opinion then the dac and digital cable. One of the best tube dacs are the older Audio Logic 34s that you can find for around $1000 depending on the chip set inside. They can be modified by the manufacturer to current standards if you want. The AL 34 dac has 4 tubes with a separate power supply. The better the tubes, the better the sound. This DAC is better then the original Cal Alpha DAC but go with the non 24/96 version of the CAL Alpha dac. If you find an AL DAC, make sure you do a search on Agon for Audio Logic and what digital cables everyone is using, there are plenty of AL fans here on Agon.

Happy Listening.

After I read the Cal manual and discovered it had no digital output I discovered my Panasonic DVD-H1000D has one. So now I'm wondering if I could use this machine as a transport and implement a DAC for 2 channel use. I'm looking for the best sound and don't really need both machines unless it's unavoidable. Again any feedback is appreciated.