Best Dac you ever heard

As a dealer for Audio Aero, I will convey one customer's findings. He is a user here and if anyone would care to contact him directly, I will be happy to email you his information.

I had been telling Steve of my experiences with the Capitole vs. my dCS gear. He kept blowing me off when I told him I had a player that would be significantly better than his Levinson 30.6 & 31.5 reference digital system. Finally, I peaked his interest enough where he decided he would do a comparison between the products.

Within a 1/2 hour he was on the phone asking me how it was possible that the $6900 cd player could be that much better than his $27,000 reference digital setup. He was blown away and immediately put his Levinson gear up for sale. The differences he found were:

1. The Capitole had much better depth of stage

2. The Capitole was even quieter than his Levinson gear

3. The Capitole had greater detail while retaining much more musicality

4. The Capitole placed instruments and vocalists in a clearer, cleaner space.

This has happened countless times with all types of digital gear. I have a customer list which is incredibly long with people that dumped much more expensive equipment for the Capitole. I even have a friend and customer that sold his analog setup and his record collection after hearing the Capitole. He feels the Capitole, while not being as good as analog, was close enough where he no longer found himself playing records. He had a top notch analog setup and has never looked back.

The Audiomeca Mephisto is also in this league of players. I carry both players so my opinion as a dealer should be taken into consideration.

The Linn CD-12 is another top notch player and although I do not sell it, I recommend it as well. Another DAC that I have heard many raves about is the Chord DAC 64.

Good Luck with your decision.

My favorite DAC remains the Audio Logic 2400, which has remained truer to the music than any dCS, Wadia, Levinson, Krell, ARC or other piece I've heard, both in my system and elsewhere. A very open, "alive" sounding DAC with excellent soundstaging and tonal qualities (I use a Forsell transport). May not have that hyper-detail like some other DACs, but it's more to my liking and is the only DAC I've heard that I can listen to in the same session as vinyl and not feel a big let-down. I have a feeling the Audio Aero would also be to my liking, from the descriptions I've heard.

if you are talking about really the best.
-kondo ongaku
-audio note 5 sig.
-boulder serie 2000

I have owned the Theta Gen Va (single ended) and the Theta Data Basic II. I switched to an Altis Reference DAC which was a significant improvement in detail and musicality and then bought the Altis CDT III transport. The Theta was very good but the Altis was another world. Unfortunately, Howard Mandell, the president of Altis, passed away last fall and the company closed. It is good to hear that there are so many great sets of equipment. Enjoyment is what it is all about.

My experience is limited compared to some, but the Monarchy Audio M22C is fantastic for the money.