1. That certainly depends on the $3k DAC or CD player. Not everything out there at this price range is the most wonderful thing in the world...
2. The stock DI/O at around $120 really is pretty impressive for its price. It is not a giant killer though.
3. The DI/O with mods/power supply can get pretty impressive and does end up leaving a lot of people with a perplexed look when they see what it can do compared to other items at much higher price points. There's some folks doing the same sort of typical mods. If you read through the dio_mods group on Yahoo, there are also folks doing and trying all sorts of stuff with this little box... I'd really, really love to see what some of these hightly, highly tweaked boxes do for a system and for comparison... Hopefully someone out there with one can chime in and provide comparison details.
For me, breakin was a definite big help for the little box, with significant improvement.
The best thing are this though -- at $120, its probably one of the lowest priced changes you can take on audio equipment, and if you are a DIY person, there's so many people that have done work on them, and documented it, that you can make significant changes to it with low parts price.
If you do buy one, and you're not a DIY person, go to www.boldercables.com if you want interconnects and digital cables that work specifically well for the DI/O, and if I remember correctly, he also does a complete mod package + replacement power supply, or at least is planning on it in the future.
2. The stock DI/O at around $120 really is pretty impressive for its price. It is not a giant killer though.
3. The DI/O with mods/power supply can get pretty impressive and does end up leaving a lot of people with a perplexed look when they see what it can do compared to other items at much higher price points. There's some folks doing the same sort of typical mods. If you read through the dio_mods group on Yahoo, there are also folks doing and trying all sorts of stuff with this little box... I'd really, really love to see what some of these hightly, highly tweaked boxes do for a system and for comparison... Hopefully someone out there with one can chime in and provide comparison details.
For me, breakin was a definite big help for the little box, with significant improvement.
The best thing are this though -- at $120, its probably one of the lowest priced changes you can take on audio equipment, and if you are a DIY person, there's so many people that have done work on them, and documented it, that you can make significant changes to it with low parts price.
If you do buy one, and you're not a DIY person, go to www.boldercables.com if you want interconnects and digital cables that work specifically well for the DI/O, and if I remember correctly, he also does a complete mod package + replacement power supply, or at least is planning on it in the future.