Advice needed please.

My search for a digital upgrade led me to the separates route. I tried a number of CDPs, all of them good, but none of them captured my attention enough. Ultimately I bought into the non-over/upsampling filterless design concept which are used in several models of DACs, most notably Audio Note and 47 Labs (go the their websites to review the tech papers). After several home and store auditions I chose the Audio Mirror and mated it with a TRL modified Alesis ML9600. So now I have a CDP with upsampling if I want it, as well as a HD storage and playback system, digital recording and editing system, and transport. When the digital output of the ML9600 is used with the Audio Mirror it provides non-os filterless digital playback. I recently had a spare Audio Mirror modified by TRL and will be writing a review soon. As it stands after 350 hours of burn-in time, the music is the closest to analog (vinyl, 2-track master reels and DAT) that I have heard. Cost for the whole set-up including mods (less cables) is about $2500. If you prefer the one box and upsampling, check out the TRL Marantz SA-14. There is a thread dedicated to it here.

Bradz,

The TRL SA-14 might be in your price range. They come up for sale used on Audiogon for around $1200 or so and with the cost of the mod might be in the neighborhood of $1800.

I too like Gmood1's DAC. I checked out the Audio Sector site but couldn't find anything on it. The Audio Zone site had a nice DAC listed which if I understand Gmood1 corectly is designed by the same person.

Gmood1, can you share some more information?

Tube Research Labs (TRL) has modified my digital gear, including the Audio Mirror DAC. They have an extensive amount of audio experience (building tube and solid state gear, as well as cables) and have modifed several CDPs (see the TRL Sony595 and TRL Marantz SA-14 threads as examples), DACs, amps, etc. The nice thing about their mod service is the price to quality ratio. Mods are $550 per unit (or box). The quality you get in return is significantly better than what you pay. I am confident they could improve the sound of the Cary and would recommend you contact Paul Weitzel to discuss your needs.

Bradz,

If you can't reach Paul by phone send him an email. He is fairly quick at responding, but bear in mind that TRL is also in the medical field and they are sometimes busy on those projects in addition to audio projects. It is actually to the customers benefit that TRL is in the medical field as some of the intellectual property they have developed in making extremely quiet medical equipment, as well as their use of proprietary wire (which requires a significant burn-in time for audio applications), makes their modified units sound that much better.

Imagine my surprise when I was told that some of the modifications to my transport were the result of work TRL has done with Intel. Another example: my DACs noise floor was lowered 20db. Imagine how much more detail you can hear, especially micro dymanics, with the blacker background.

If you want, email me if I can be of further assistance.