Thanks guys for your well reasoned comments. I have been on the simpler is often better bandwagon for many years. Mostly I follow that in the front end components like DAC or phono stage. I also have the 47 labs phono cube and their flatfish CD transport. I even use their solid core IC wire and flat solid speaker wire.
After a few years of no upgrades I've been on a bit of a buying binge as of late. I picked up a pair of Neat mf7 speakers and a second Roksan platinum st1308 stereo amp so I can biamp the Neats. Also I've bought some Gutwire power cable (sp8.1)for the amps. As you can see the amp and preamp portion of my system is not really simple. :) The mf7's are a bit power hungry but really sound wonderful biamped. Now my audio addiction is all pumped up like back in the good old days. I found a used Bel Canto DAC at what I think is a great price. But as Charles1dad points out, simpler can be more musically engaging than the complex designs. To my knowledge the 47 labs DAC is the simplest quality design available. It has the shortest circuit path, quality components, and least number of components of any design I've seen. It has no digital or analog filters of any kind. Even after 10+ years it still seems well regarded. At least in regard to keeping up it's resale value. It does still sound pretty good to me.... In fact I believe it is still available new for around $8000. That it is still sporting the same design is pretty astonishing in the ever changing audio electronics field. Still as I said in my first post, time and technology move on. Advances in clocking and jitter reduction have me wondering if I've been left behind. I consider my source components the most important pieces in the system. I would hate to think that my DAC is far behind what is available these days. I'm beginning to think Siox has a very valid point. Find one at a good price and give it a try for a while. You can always sell it. At least then I can definitively settle the issue in my own mind. Thanks ~mark~
