Cal Alpha upgrade

Have you considered upgrading just the transport? IMHO, the potential of the alpha is limited greatly not taking of its 96/24 potential (difference between a 96/24 and non-96/24 feed is night and day) and by quality of transport. I have tried many transports with the alpha, each bringing a little more refinement and wider soundstage than the next, with delta being the worst of them all. Also at least in my setup, the alpha responded dramatically with upgrade in digital cable to madrigal.

Happy listening

What has been your experience with the AL?

Well the deed has been done! An AL 24MXL has safely crossed the big pond and will shortly be replacing the Alpha. Must say there's a bit of trepidation at not wanting to lose what I love about the Alpha, but based on the experiences of those who have gone down this exact same route, I'm nervously confident!

Thanks for your replies.

the Audiologic MXl-24 is better than both listed here .
for sure .put in some N.O.S Seiens cca tubes or TELE88cc
and you are in your glory.

The benefit of the Audio Aero is the volume control (not sure if the model 1 had it) so you can by-pass the preamp. With the AL you can swap tubes to find the sound you prefer in your system plus the older ones are a little cheaper then the AA DAC. In addition, getting the AA fixed was one of my issues with the product. RX8Man and I have the same digital front end now.

Happy Listening.

Your short list is exactly like mine was.
I went from a Delta / Alpha to a CEC / Audio Logic.
I also wanted an Audio Aero Prima Dac Mk.1, but it was not available used, until now.
There's one on the Gon for about 1700.00, may still be available.