if your budget is really large, check out the Boulder 2020 advance dac, which sounds its very best mated with the Boulder 2010 preamp. you'll need a transport, of course. i'd recommend the Forsell or Burmester if you want cd only; if you want sacd & cd, check out the Accuphase dp100. if you don't feel like spending >$60,000, i'd very seriously consider the 1-box Accuphase 75v @ $11k retail. for my own system, i run an Accuphase dp-90 cd transport into a dc-330 all-digital preamp ; this pre has the same dac built in as the 75v but, IMHO, sounds even better than that unit, due in large measure to the superiority of the separate transport. both the 75v and 330 are upgradeable via plugin curcuit boards to advd and sacd. tho, i've not yet had it confirmed, i've been told the Boulder dac will also be upgradeable to advd and/or sacd. BTW, once you've listened to any of the prducts recommended above, i think you'll forego the dvd route; you won't get even close to the sound quality with dvd except on the handful of advd discs available. if you want to see how dvd is matching up with sacd availability, take a look @ chad kassim's latest catalog (Acoustic Sounds-available online @www.acousticsounds.com). have fun, but watch your feet. it's a minefield out there.
Best Digital Front End Period!
The question is What is the Best Front End Digital Period! Price no object BASED ONLY on what you, have personally listened to, not heard about. Also please give a brief description of your sonic impressions. Ideally you have listened to the piece in YOUR system but sometimes a product is sooooo good that it trancends performance of other products in an unfamiliar system. I have read many threads on specific products but if dough wasn't a criteria and you could own it based on what you've heard which one would you own?