10-03-14: Bill_k
Melbguy1 - I'd be curious to know whether you've had the chance to audition the recently introduced Berkeley Reference DAC, and how it compares to the Vitus. It's priced at $16K but is supposed to be a new standard which excels at PCM decoding. Thanks in advance for your input!
Bill, I haven't heard the new Berkely Reference dac, though I had a read up on it. It sounds like it is firmly in the digital/resolution camp (ie: in the same catagory as msb, dcs, emm ect..very detailed but zero groove). Resolution and accuracy are important, but that means nothing if the music is missing soul and emotions. Tube dacs tend to excel at soul and emotions, whilst ss dacs like DCS excel at resolution/accuracy. Vitus is somewhere in the middle, kind of best of both worlds. Though in terms of engineering and build quality, you would not compare tubes to a Vitus product, unless you're talking about Kondo or something like that.
The comparative dacs price-wise in the Vitus line up are the RD-100 (which is a good option if you need a preamp), or new RCD-101 sacd player. Compared to the previous model (RCD-100) the RCD-101 has had an extensive rework including DSD/SACD compatability, a brand new sony drive, better power supply and a much improved dac section. This is now pretty much on par with the RD-100 sonically and amazingly, as good as the old Signature series SCD-010.
