Bel Canto or Birdland?

I have demoed both of them side by side in my sound room at home. They were both extremely good! The Bel Canto Dac-1 must use a pre-amp. The Birdland can be used with a pre-amp OR can be used by itself and will drive any system. I have communicated over the internet with several people regarding your question, with mixed comments (all good) pro/con each dac. In my system I preferred the Bel Canto, I heard more harmonic detail and base extension. Others have said the same thing about the Birdland. I suggest you demo both of them in your home as I did and decide for yourself. I could definitely live with both/either. As I mentioned before I preferred the Bel Canto on my tube system. I did not try it with my S.S. system. One visual drawback in my opinion is to keep cost down the Birdland is housed in an inexpensive plastic blue housing. I hope the info is helpful. Good luck and let me know what you decide. Feel free to email me if you have other specific questions.

Both are good DACs but I would look at the $699 Perpetual Technologies P3A. In the newest Soundstage they prefer the P3A to the Bel Canto. The P3A also got a great review in Secrets of Home theater and High Fidelity. Go to www.perpetualtechnologies.com and have a look for yourself.

As long as we're straying from the topic, in the December Stereophile, the DAC 1 finally gets its long overdue review. RD claims to prefer the MSB, Full nelson upgrade (I think this must be done when purchased at the factory, not sure about sending it BACK in) with the P1000 power supply and upsampler chip. Total price: $1382 retail. He claims that the sound via the MSB is more exciting and more dynamic. There is also another company that does another mod on the MSB, and I believe that this mod was reviewed in sounstage (www.soundstage.com) recently. There may be an upgrade available for the Bel Canto power supply now. I will probably try the MSB first. I can definately swing it much easier a little at a time. You could get the standard Link DAC 3, maybe add the power supply or the upsampler, then in a couple of months, add the other, and then a couple of months later, send it back to MSB for the Full Nelson (or Half nelson, if you dont need a balanced digi connection), and you're there, PLUS MSB will have a 192khz upsampler sometime soon. If you have plenty of money now, you should demo the dCS Delius and Purcell, which is near the top of the food chain right now. Good Luck.

Deutsch definitely preferred the MSB to the Bel Canto, but his reference system probably needed more sparkle from the front end than mine does. I've owned the unit for about 6 months, but haven't the had the opportunity to really compare it other gear as of yet. All-in-all, I like the DAC1, but do admit to missing the extra (perhaps artificial) warmth of my old Cal Audio Alpha D/A. I will definitely get the power supply upgrade, and see if the unit's sonic character changes significantly.

I don't know the MSB Link series products or the BC, but I just spent about 3 weeks with their new Platinum DAC and thought it was excellent. About $3K and quite homely.