Absolute top tier DAC for standard res Redbook CD

Matt, I've been lurking on this thread, but thought I'd chime in to show my (our) appreciation for your efforts.

Like you, I'm primarily interested in Redbook playback. You currently have one of the DACs that I'm considering, so I'm looking forward to your results.

Keep up the good work/play... and feel good about it.

Rob

Matt,

You wrote, "I may try running it direct to amp if I decide to keep it, otherwise I will do the entire audition running it through my Criterion..."

From what I've read, I *strongly* recommend that you try running the DS direct to amp before making a final decision. You might want to thoroughly A/B direct versus the Criterion.

I know of a couple of people who have gone direct DS-to-amp and have declared it to be better than running through a pre.

In my own experience, I recently demoed an ARC Ref 5se between my PS Audio PWD II DAC and amp, and it was worse than terrible! Such a highly vaunted preamp, and yet the result was like taking 100 steps backward. Though we gave it a number of hours for testing, we knew within 30 seconds that it simply didn't work. (Great way to save $13K, to boot.)

I'm just concerned that if you don't try direct-to-amp, you may be missing something big in the DS.

Rob

Matt, I second Erikminer's interest in the DS. I just got mine in 48 hours ago, but I'm not gonna tell you what I think. ;)

I'm likely not the only one just dyin' to hear the results of the ODSE vs DS.

Pins and needles... Like a long, good movie, you just want to know how it ends!

FWIW, I've worked with Steve for a couple of years now, and have always found him responsive, fair, and above all, very knowledgeable. Are we best buds? No. Do I appreciate his insights and presence? Absolutely.

I wouldn't recommend putting your music on the main internal drive, CT. (I'm running a Mac Mini with a 4TB external FireWire drive.)

First, you'll have contention on the internal drive between system functions and serving up music. How much of a problem? I don't know, but it should be considered.

The external drive makes backups very easy. I have another, similar drive, and simply clone the drives after new music additions are made. The clone goes in the fire safe.

Given that, I don't think you need RAID, although it would be handier than my solution.

One drawback to the RAID plan is that while it is redundant unto itself, it doesn't protect you from complete data loss in the event of a house catastrophe. The better solution there is an off-site backup, or a fire safe. I don't do cloud.

I use an OWC Mercury Elite Pro for backup. My primary HDD is an OWC case with an AV drive. For the exact model, I'd have to check with Benjamin at Mojo.

I should add that I chose the OWC drive because it is very quiet. Others I've tried, even from OWC, have been unacceptably loud. Be sure to listen for yourself, or check noise ratings or reviews. Some disk fans sound like background static when you're listening to music.

Better to light one candle than to curse the darkness...

Ozzy said, "I posted my actual experience with dealing with Steve."

Actually, no. You were having a terse conversation with Steve within this otherwise useful thread. I don't believe that you objectively reported on your experiences for the benefit of others here.

My opinion is that it should have been taken offline with Steve directly. Instead, we all had to bear witness to your frustrations.

I even hesitated to post this, as it, too, detracts from Matt's fine work here. I recognize that.