I think the real difference today is what you can build as server instead of using a dedicated CD transport. For less than $10K you can have a Mac Pro computer with Apogee Rosetta / Big Ben that will hold over 5,000 uncompressed CDs. The sound quality of this server equals that of my Wadia SE transport, but has the ability to instantly access any track on thousands of CDs.
As far as DACs go, I agree that the improvements have reached the level of taste as opposed to quantum leaps in performance. For me, I love the sound of Wadia DACs, so I use the AES/EBU output of the Apogee Rosetta to feed my digital front end that ends up going through Wadia 27xi DACs. If you are happy with the sound of your 30.5 (Im not familiar with it) then Id strongly encourage you to consider adding an uncompressed, low jitter digital server to feed it.
Cheers,
Dean
As far as DACs go, I agree that the improvements have reached the level of taste as opposed to quantum leaps in performance. For me, I love the sound of Wadia DACs, so I use the AES/EBU output of the Apogee Rosetta to feed my digital front end that ends up going through Wadia 27xi DACs. If you are happy with the sound of your 30.5 (Im not familiar with it) then Id strongly encourage you to consider adding an uncompressed, low jitter digital server to feed it.
Cheers,
Dean