DAC help For my tube rig

I agree with Charles, I owned the Vega and liked it a lot, but the Lampizator Big 5 is much better albeit more $

Well that blew up in my face. Ayre tells me the waitlist for an upgrade reaches into Jan/Feb 2015... and so the search is back on.

Thanks for all the feedback (and sorry for the delayed post, for some reason I was locked out.) Over the weekend I picked up an original Ayre QB-9, which I'll send off to be upgraded. If that doesn't do the trick then I'll explore the Lampi or AMR further.

Two to consider:

Empirical Audio Overdrive SE with Paul Hynes Regs and CUTF caps. Won best in show at RMAF last year. Best my EMM labs. Very engaging. Non-upsampling dac (this is a good design)

Allnic D5000 DHT output dac.

Chip: ES9018K2M SABRE 32 Reference DAC
Complete USB galvanic isolation!
2 coax
1 tosl
1 AES/EBU

Balanced and rca outputs.

Maximum DAC specification is DSD128 + 32/384KHz with internal 1.5MHz upsampler using FPGA.
USB interface is UAC2 standard compliant and Thesycon driver will be supplied for Windows environment.
Everything except DAC chip was fully customized including USB interface, spdif receiver and high-end upsamplers.
And PCM to DSD real time conversion function is implemented with internal 5.6MHz upsampler and DSD converter.

How do I post a picture here?

Just remember that Devore's rhymes with divorce!

Jond - Yes, Devore's arrived last week. Just waiting for the wife to go on a biz trip so I can set everything up and pretend like it's all been there for years... You'll need to come by for a listen.

Guf,
That's a very nice system you've put together, must sound really good.
Charles,

So Mr. Slipp have you gotten those Devore's yet?

I've heard the Auralic Vega and the Lampizator Big 5 DAC in the same
system of a good friend. The Vega is very good sounding but the
Lampizator is a true level above, simply better across the board IMO. I don't
care for the Ayre (but you certainly may) . I haven't heard the PS Audio Data
Stream. Of course my comments are relevant only if we hear in a similar
fashion. Given the make up of your fine system I think you'd love the natural
sounding Lampizator.
Good Luck,
Charles,

Of the list and suggestions given so far, My vote would be for the Lampi (with DSD) or the PS Audio D-Stream.

If you hear the Lampi, I suspect you will jump in with both feet!

My suggestion would be the AMR DP 777, soon to be upgradeable to the DP 777 SE. Been through more dacs than I can name; most and I do mean most of which are nothing more than the base schematic given with the chip chosen from the factory. Combine stock circuits with woefully inadequate onboard chip-volume controls and another cookie cutter dac is given life. AMR is wholly engineered from the ground up with many unique optimization circuits as well as a true analog relay volume control. I have been happily living with my DP 777 for a little over 3 years.

I use a shindo Aurieges, First Watt Sit2, And had Lampizator L4G4 for months, and just replaced it with a big7. Very happy with The Lampizator products and service.

These are all good choices but you need to have some input here. Its no different than the process you went about when selecting your Shindo/DeVore combo (and an excellent combo it is). For me, I love Ayre and wouldn't hesitate to buy a QB-9. But I don't know if you would like it. The Ayre house sound is different than Shindo. What have you actually listened to?