I agree I have never been a fan of the whole "upsampling" thing. Audio Research had a great paper out years ago about the problems with Upsampling. I too have an older Theta unit and it still sounds wonderful!
'Bargain' upsampling DACs vs. classic high-end
Building a music server outputting digital on spdif via Xonar Essence card; this is for a second-home 'party' system (Dynaudio Speakers). I moved my Theta Gen V balanced dac up there many years ago; it has always been a very musical device. It is, however, more than 15 years old. I'm wondering if a current 'bargain' upsampling DAC like the Cambridge DacMagic could offer better sound given progress in technology and the fact that the Theta only does 44.1. Anyone have any ear-experience to offer?