Jump in now or wait?

I am wrestling with it as well, Dokosan. I think your post is timely. I am looking to upgrade my digital source, and keep going back and forth between excellent players such as the Marantz SA-7S1 and the Abbindgon AMR CD77 (my top two contenders on the CD side), versus going to PC Audio, with a top notch combination such as the Wavelength DACs or the new kid on the block, the Berkeley Alpha DAC, and a decent music server.

Of late, I am leaning toward the latter, as I read more and more testimonials as to the quality of these setups. As much as I like the idea of having my large CD collection at my fingertips, sound quality is the ultimate priority for me. I am trying to arrange some auditions, but of course there are certain logistical difficulties with this.

I appreciate your post, and do hope others will chime in with their thoughts and experiences.

I'm waiting. I'm waiting till there is a wide variety of high resolution downloads available and the hardware and software has been improved over the first generation stuff.

I don't have a problem with playing cds though, and have no desire to rip my collection to a hard drive.

Well you might consider the just released DAC1 pre. But obviously they're going to keep releasing new products every so often. I don't expect any significant advances in sound as we haven't really seen that over the past 5 or even 10 years IMO. All I really see is more refining and voicing to a particular designers tastes. You might as well go ahead and buy otherwise you'll always be waiting for the next thing.