dcs puccini, chord red ref, meitner cdsa or nagra

I would recommend this giant slayer of a DAC
namely, the Accustic Arts Reference Tube DAC2.
It has been compared to the likes of dcs/Emm/Chord and many preferred it instead.
Check Teajay's head-turning review at
Accustic Arts Reference Tube DAC2

It was his reviews of Accustic Arts DAC Mk3/4 and later the Tube DAC that attracted me to check it out and when the homework was done, I bought a DACMk4 first and then the Ref Tube DAC as in accordance with his DAC evolution. Teajays very detailed reviews portrayed the same findings I had when auditioning Accustic Arts when compared to other brands, so it was quite easy to decide.

Could not recommend it earlier as Teajay mentioned recently that it was no longer being brought in into the States as AAudioImports, the former distributor no longer markets it. Then later I found that Accustic Arts has changed hands to another US company called Musical Sounds recently. Thus it's still a good and viable option for you to check, assuming you are from the States. Their new accompanying transport called the Reference Drive 2 should also be launching soon (this was shown at the recent Munich show)

The new US distributor is at the below URL

Musical Sounds

Chadeffect said:

"you mention redbook playback. The Emm lab and DCS give you the choice of playing either SACD or redbook disks. The bonus i guess being they upsample rebook to dsd."

The Playback Designs MPS-5 also upsamples to DSD. My redbook library took a GIANT leap forward when I added this piece. It sounds wonderful with redbook. Now I need to dig around to find a disc that I've got both in CD and SACD to see how they compare. The CD reproduction is so incredible that I don't find my self switching over to SACD or vinyl now. It really organic, detailed and rich.

Dave

Sorry guys,

the point I was trying to make was whether it is a SACD player or not is not important.

If you do go for an SACD player (I understand this thread is about a good single box for redbook playback) the bonus is that if you play redbook on it it will use the DSD upsampling and obviously if you do play an SACD disk you gain from its greater resolution anyway.

I have a pretty good SACD player and it makes little difference whether I play redbook or DSD. They all sound amazing. Very rarely do I find myself complaining about the disk type. If its a good recording, its a good recording!

where is the playback designs manufactured? also, who is the designer?

06-30-08: Maxx2man asked:
"where is the playback designs manufactured? also, who is the designer?"

USA; Andreas Koch.