Cambridge Audio DAC questions

The D500SE has a Crystal 24/192 Chip model CS4391 made by Cirrus Logic. You can read about it at: http://www.cirrus.com/design/products/overview/index.cfm?DivisionID=3&SubdivisionID=8&ProductID=30

1 Bit DACs were commonly called bitstream. They were found on the Cambridge CD4, CD6 and Rotel 930, 950 and 970 all filtered to 20 bit. Do not be put off by the term 1 bit; it is just basically how the chip reads the data before the filtering and/or sampling is applied at whatever rate the chip is designed to operate at.

The data I have read sais that Crystal 24bit/192Khz chip has a 24 bit data stream, so as they say on the Sopranos "Forgetaboutit".

The Rotel 971 has dual mono 20 bit Burr Brown PCM63K chips and also the Pacific Micro HDCD decoding filter.

I sold both the Crystal Semi and Burr Brown product lines for years. The PCM63K is the best DAC that's been made to date, but expensive. Texas Instruments acquired Burr Brown a year ago for over $7 billion, stupid amount given Burr Brown's sales were sub $500 million. Back to the topic at hand. If you like a more "analog" sound then all things being equal go for the product based on the PCM63K over any other DAC's. Make sure it's the K version, they also sell lower grade versions.

The Rotel 990 and 991 CD players also use the (dual) mono PCM63K Chips. The 990 is better than either the 971 or 991 because of the studio pro quality aluminum transport. There is one on eBay right now; ends on January 2nd; item number 1313693188

I just want to say I appreciate all the feedback.
I am still debating - but the D-500se is gonna get an in home trial. I'll let you know how it goes.