Thank you Sogood51 for turning me on to the link, lots of useful info there and on your other posts on the more recent AM Dac forum. Looks like i'll be purchasing an Audio Mirror Dac as soon as funds allow. I was originally considering building an Audio Note kit dac with mods,( i may still do that in the future but have too many DIY projects going at the moment), then after playing with some battery powered Tripath amps, i got thinking about assembling a complete system "off the grid"!, let em turn off the power, i'll still have sweet music and tubes/candles glowing in the dark! (Beware, danger lurks in the BU$HE$!), but that can wait, i hope!, It's the sound that matters most, not the power source, and it seems like the consenses is that the newer/better? Ack2 is close but i can't spend $900. right now, i'd rather spend $500. now for the AM and maybe mod it later on. And Gunbei, thanks for your helpful posts on Sogood51's link and on the other AM forum. Skyboys helpful and elaborite posts are a little confusing to me, i don't know if i prefer a clear spring sky, or snow melting winter sky, and also, that could be dependent on where you are standing on the Planet, and i'll have to look up Apollonian and Dionysian somewhere to see what they mean! Bottom line though is he has owned and has experience with the Ack 1.2 , 2.0, Nixon, and AM, and now has 2 AMs, guess he likes em.Gunbei, your descriptions/adjatives(?spelling) speak to me very clearly. Semper Gumby, always flexible! Thanks again guys, i'm kinda new to AG, but have met lots of nice folks so far, Audiogon is a cool space. Regards, Alan