Upsampling DACs

The Vitus RD-100 is an excellent upsampling dac and employs filter-down technology from the previous Signature series spinner (SCD-010). It also includes a good analogue linestage which uses a new version of Vitus's relay-based volume control and 2 'true' analogue inputs (1 rca + 1 xlr), including an array of digital inputs.

The RD-100 benefits from extremely wide bandwidth, future-proof discrete modular architecture and impeccable build quality. The sound is neutral, natural, flowing and sounds somewhat tube-like in terms of its tonal saturation, texture and dimensionality. An easy recommendation, unless you need a good sacd player, in which case i'd recommend the Vitus RCD-101. The dac section is in that player is on par with the RD-100, but omits the analogue linestage.

Ok, thanks guys, much appreciated. How much are these units?

Dave, the Vitus RD-100 is $14kUSD retail, whilst the RCD-101 is about $2kUS more. A good Dealer however should be able to do a deal south of that. Not cheap, but I still rate these components as high end bargains imho.

Dave - I think you're unnecessarily limiting your enjoyment by restricting your choices to a certain technology. Years ago, I went into a dealer asking for stand-mount speakers because I thought they were better than floor-standing for some reason. The dealer said "rather than looking for a certain type of speaker, why don't you just try to get something you like?".

It sounds stupidly simple, but I can't tell you how many people here do the same thing in one way or the other - they want an upsampling dac, a dac with a certain chip, a non-oversampling dac, whatever. IMO, it's the wrong way to go about things.

Judging from your system, you're probably not in the market for an EMM or Vitus, but seem to think very highly of the Metrum Octave, the Auralic Vega, and the Eastern Electric.

BTW - that Onkyo you have is not a bad player for the money. What are you trying to achieve - warmth? That's what most people seem to want. Nothing against Bryston, but warmth isn't their strong suit.

Good point Chayro, at the end of the day members here can only make suggestions based on what we think is a good unpsampling dac based on our preference and relative budget. At the end of the day, it's all about finding out what kind of sound you like, then building a system that suits your tastes. I mean, if you believe some of the bs on this forum, you'd end up with $40k of cables plugged in to a Chinese cd player and $700 vintage speakers. Best to forge out on your own. Ultimately listening to gear and having a good relationship with a Dealer is the best way to go.