I owned the 296 combo for several months and found them to be very difficult to match cables with using the single-ended output. I can't recommend them unless you are using a balanced setup. To me the soundstage was reproduced in a miniaturized fashion, which made retrieval of microdynamics very difficult. Your welcome to a different opinion should you audition them yourself. Regards.
Muse 8 tranport + 296 DAC, the best?
Im about to buy used for 3.500$ this combo and I really liked the sound but I have not heard many alternatives in this for me very expensive price range. Is there a better alternative I should listen to? I have a huge CD collection so I m manily intrested in redbook CD sound. I recall that this combo got rave review in Stereophile but was given a bad review in brit Hifi News mag !