Absolute top tier DAC for standard res Redbook CD

Audiol - it has the same volume control. It has internal jumpers if you need zero volume to be more quiet. I think mute is a better choice if you need it dead quiet. This is a part of the volume technology. it does not go to zero unless you mute.

I have used the ODSE for many years and never needed zero on the volume.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

Steve walked me through set up last week on mine and using Ayre gear you can tell if something isn't quiet. I have the volume control on, but I don't use it and I hear NOTHING from the tweeter when I'm not playing anything. Not sure if that's what you guys are talking about, but the noise floor is very very low and it helps with the overall sound. I accidentally let the system on last night and went up this morning to turn it off. I put on a few cuts and DAMN did it sound sweet. I can tell it's starting to burn in as the stage is bigger. Instruments are no where near the speaker (the sound is wall to wall). The bass is tightening up and so tuneful. I didn't expect this and it's not fully burned in yet. The Vandy's have never sounded so nice to me. Me needs to upgrade now, lol....

Heads up on the "JMF Audio DMT3.7 Universal Transport" under development. The JMF Audio front-end (the DMT3.7 transport and the DXC2.2 MKII converter) is the only source in the world capable of playing all types of discs and converting any audio to 705/768kHz!

Some of the features are:
JMF Audio optical mechanism and disc handling.
JMF Audio signal processing and clocking, common to all sources.
Independant power supplies for disc drive, audio and video
Two modes of operation: pure audio and audio/video.
Outputs audio stereo SPDIF and AES-EBU 192kHz.
Outputs audio multichannel over HDMI in PCM and DSD;
Outputs video over HDMI, full HD, upscaling to 4k.
Easy control with the JMF Audio MBR1 remote.
Advanced control with tablet/smartphone/computer.
Audio discs: CD, SACD, HDCD, DVD-Audio, Bluray Pure-Audio
Audio/video discs: DVD, Bluray
Files: WAV, FLAC, AAC, DSD...
Decoding: Dolby True HD, DTS Master Audio...
Streaming: DLNA

That will be an interesting piece. I think that streaming is the wave of the future personally. I think that we will all have nice streaming devices in hi rez and a great DAC.

Guys, I've tried to find the firewire Maxtor server grade hard drives, but can't figure out which one to get. I understand that Seagate now owns them, but there are multiple types on their site. Which one is server grade? Also, aren't they the ones with a great disc drive? Can't see that one either. I am ready today to get the disk drive (Steve said it has to have the sampling deal from the internet built into it) and the hard drive to start ripping my CD's...thanks all.