DAC for Krell KPS 20i

Just out of curiosity, what about the sound of the 20 are you not satisfied with? What are you looking to achieve with a DAC in terms of "improved" or "different" sound? This will certainly assist with DAC recommendations. Also, are you running the 20 direct to an amp or via a good preamp? If you are running it direct vs. via a preamp, perhaps you may want to try a preamp.

Ckoffend:

my chain of cd signal: kps20i-vahalla-arc sp11mk2-discovery plus 4- arc classic 150-vahalla-spendor sp100. most of my gear are used except for the six meters of discovery plus 4 due to 2 pairs of rca-in at the back of sp11. i listened to the reimyo cdp 777 play carol kidd at an audiophile show and was very impressed but expensive for me. i am not a reviewer but i know the reimyo system i listened to had more emotion/detail in the singer's voice. i am thinking maybe a reimyo dac to add that extra touch.

That would be a good choice. It sounds like you are looking to add some warmth (which to me increases emotion to some extent), but at the same time you indicate that the 777 also displayed greater detail than the 20i. Of course, these were in different systems.

I have never owned the Vahalla cables, but have listened to them in a friends system when he was trying them out. Our feelings were that they were a clean cable, but possibly too bright for his system. In the end he went a different direction, one that he felt conveyed a greater sense of musical emotion. Personally, I am hard pressed to say that cables normally make that large of a difference (noticeable yes, but majorly changing sound - not usually, but occassionally at best).

Before I would jump at a DAC, especially if you are looking at a fair amount of money, I would see how much your system changes if you try another CDP (perhaps you are in an area where this would not be impossible).

If you really feel a need to buy a DAC, I would consider (outside of the Reimyo which is excellent) a Trivista Dac with its tubes may be to your liking and is quite reasonable used. For a fair amount less, but also both being tubes are DACs that I have owned and really liked: CAL Alpha (either standard or already upgraded to 24/96) for about $500 or a Kora Hermes for about $750-850. I have not listened to any of the Benchmark DACs closely enough to comment on them, but it seems that many people seem to like them.

I would be careful as you are trying to duplicate a sound from another system into your system, with many things being different - not just the CDP.