Hi Tubegroover; I'm not sure if I have the kind of input you're looking for because I've not heard the most expensive gear, ie Levinson reference, Burmester, etc-- but I want to play. Earlier this summer, I replaced my Muse Two DAC and Sony XA7 CD player with Levinson 37 Transport and 360S DAC. Improvement in music quality/character was dramatic and certainly the best I have ever heard. It is detailed, w/o being analytic, dynamic, non-fatiguing, and musical-- I can listen to this system for hours with pleasure. This front end especially shines with well recorded music, ie on Diana Krall's jazz ballads, her voice is so rich, lush, husky, breathy, and immediate that sometimes I think I actually feel her breath on the side of my face-- needless to say that's pretty exciting. Another great CD on this system is Lucinda Williams "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road" (an HDCD recording), trks #7 and #12 are fantastic-- live, immediate, and exciting. The soundstage is wide and deep with percussion and other instruments exploding all over the place-- bass is deep, tight, and pace, rhythm, and timing are excellent. I also love Margo Timmins voice and the Cowboy Junkies through this system (if I can't have her in person). I tried Madrigal's MDC-1 AES/EBU cable with this combo and found it to be tremendously detailed (near analytical), but still relaxed; however it somewhat lacked coherency which decreased PR&T. The Cardas Lightning AES/EBU cable is what really brought this front end together. The Cardas is not quite as detailed as Madrigal's cable, but it is more coherent, with better PR&T, and is overall more musical. The rest of my system: Sonic Frontiers Line 2 pre-amp (BTW, the tubes definitely contribute to a richer, fuller sound), McCormack DNA-2DX amp, Syn. Res. Phase 2 ICs, Syn. Res. Master Couplers on all components, Syn. Res. Sig. No. 2 spkr. cables into Vand. 3Asig. speakers. Also dedicated AC and ground systems, and ASC tubes for room treatment. As of now, I feel that my system has no weaknesses, but eventually I want to try Vand. 5s in this system:). Cheers. Craig.
Best Digital Front End Period!
The question is What is the Best Front End Digital Period! Price no object BASED ONLY on what you, have personally listened to, not heard about. Also please give a brief description of your sonic impressions. Ideally you have listened to the piece in YOUR system but sometimes a product is sooooo good that it trancends performance of other products in an unfamiliar system. I have read many threads on specific products but if dough wasn't a criteria and you could own it based on what you've heard which one would you own?