Lend me your ears...


I'm hoping to get some buying advice. I live in an area where it isn't possible to audition a variety of products. If you have experience with any of the digital sources I'm considering, your impressions would be most helpful. 

I'm choosing from; Cary DMS 800; Aurender A30; Antipodes K50 with a Benchmark DAC3 HGC; Baetis Reference with the Benchmark DAC. 

Suggestions? Cautionary tales? 

ott

Excuse me. My library is just approaching one tb, not one gb. I enjoy comparing interpretations of a given piece of music. Kirsten Flagstad sings my favorite Kinder. 

Maxdukecapone - I use the Luxman amp too. You've intrigued me, though I love the slp 98 I use. 

I live in an area where it isn't possible to audition ... I'd like to do this for around $15k ...

I also live in an underserved area. But when spending that kind of money, I get in my car and take a ride for an in-person audition. There's no way I'd spend $15K on anything sight unseen or, in audio, unheard. No way.

Cleeds;

I expect, at this price and reading reviews I know to trust, I'll come out well. Look at the advice I'm getting - can't miss 

Take a look at the Innuos Zenith that is a streamer/server with an onboard CD drive so you can easily rip your CDs right into it.  At your budget you could also add their Phoenix re-clocker, and their Sense software is free and gets excellent reviews and is constantly being updated for better sound, etc.  Wolf and Grimm also get stellar reviews but I’m not as familiar with their product offerings.  Best of luck.