I got turned onto Exemplar (http://www.exemplaraudio.com/) years ago when looking for a preamp and DAC. Nothing I tried even came close to Exemplars detail, imagining, and a beauty that just makes me want to listen and listen and listen.
I believe John as had amazing luck modifying the OPPO Sonica DAC. After hearing the OPPO modified with a 12AU7 output stage and outboard linear power supply, I never looked back. You can play all your music on a hard drive directly from the SONICA, though I now have a music server hooked up to it. I think the time of the transport is fading, and moving to getting accurate rips onto a server (I have the Eupony PTS) played back through a top notch DAC like the sonics. I can rip directly onto the solid state drive in the Euphony, where the music is directly played back from. The recordings sound significantly better this way.
Just my opinion, but after years of testing, this is the best system I've found.
I believe John as had amazing luck modifying the OPPO Sonica DAC. After hearing the OPPO modified with a 12AU7 output stage and outboard linear power supply, I never looked back. You can play all your music on a hard drive directly from the SONICA, though I now have a music server hooked up to it. I think the time of the transport is fading, and moving to getting accurate rips onto a server (I have the Eupony PTS) played back through a top notch DAC like the sonics. I can rip directly onto the solid state drive in the Euphony, where the music is directly played back from. The recordings sound significantly better this way.
Just my opinion, but after years of testing, this is the best system I've found.