Any reviews/input on Cary Audio Xciter DAC?

Thanks. That would be great. I think I am leaning toward mods done by Underwood Hi-Fi but am very interested in the Cary DAC comments. I just have not seen that many reviews on it yet.

Thank you for your time and input. Something told me this DAC really needs to be heard. Cary products are quality, period. I am reconsidering my position on this. Drew at Moon Audio in North Carolina told me it was a great DAC also, on par with the high-end Cary CD players. I also liked the idea that Cary partnered with another company on the chip, which says alot right there, with each company focusing on its strengths and its core knowledge. I am sure your Xciter will only sound better with use also. Thanks again.

I have ordered the Cary Xciter DAC and will post some information on it after I receive it, and do some burn-in. I decided to just keep the Music Hall 25.2 as a transport and have the flexibility of an outboard DAC since there seems to be a lot of innovation/improvements going on with DACs these days. Also I like the idea of using my laptop as a music server, even though that is not the reason I decided on an outboard DAC. Just want to improve the sound of my CDs since I listen to a lot of vinyl, but also have alot of great CDs.

Thank you for the additional information. Much appreciated. I received the Xciter DAC today, set up the coax input with a Moon Audio supplied digital cable, and am running it from a secondary system CD player (at 44.1 kHz)for a few days - before I even listen to it. I would like to burn it in for about 96 hours, but I am not sure I can wait that long to check it out in my main system. Looking foward to it!

OK. I spent the last couple of days listening in my main system after 96 hours of burn in. This DAC is great, and it just blends well with my other components. It has a wide, rich, expansive and very detailed soundstage and you are correct, it has an analog, smooth sound. I can't agree with your observations more and look forward to using the other inputs and other sources. I am more than pleased with what I am getting through the coax connected to my CD player. I have not tried laptop output yet but will eventually. I know the Xciter is somewhat being marketed to a PC/desktop type use, but I think this thing belongs in a larger system - in other words - justice may not be done to its capabilites if you listen to it through desktop speakers. It brought another level of improvement to the digital front-end of my main listenting system that I did not think it would. The soundstage consistently went outside of the outer edges of my floorstanding Snell speakers. I listened to a variety of CDs, mostly rock and acoustic:

Beth Orton - Daybreaker
King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
Brian Auger - Straight Ahead
Leni Stern/Wayne Krantz - Separate Cages
Suzanne Vega - Beauty and Crime
Jorma Kaukonen - Blue Country Heart
Jeff Beck - Blow by Blow
Chris Whitley - Living with the Law

Next up will be jazz. It is great to get a product like this since it makes you think of all those CDs you can't wait to hear! Now...if I could just replace that old Adcom power conditioner with ...a Hydra 6. It is all about getting to the music!

I will check it out and yes I do like blues. Which input did you use on the Cary?

I agree. I could find very little about it while searching the internet for DACs and once I discovered it, could not find any reviews, other than the one that Doug-mann steered me to (thanks again!). Also Drew Baird at Moon Audio was very helpful and had a good price on it. This is what makes Audiogon a great site. I would rather get the opinion of other users than a industry magazine review (even though those are interesting and helpful sometimes also). Maybe Cary's marketing plan is word of mouth, trade shows, etc. instead of print and internet advertising.