DAC quandry

testis, testis 1,2,3...

ONE RECOMMENDATION. CHECK OUT MUSE MODEL NINE PLAYER. THIS IS MUSE'S ONE CHASSIS ANSWER TO THE MUSE MODEL 8 DVD/CD TRANSPORT AND 296 DVD/CD PROCESSOR(REVIEW STEREOPHILE MAGAZINE APRIL 99 ISSUE) THE MODEL 9 ALSO PLAYS CD/DVD & ADVANCED AUDIO DISCS (24bit/96kHz). NEW LIST PRICE OF THE 8/296 COMBO IS $6,750.00, THE MODEL NINE COMES IN AT $3,250.00 LIST. THE MODEL NINE CAN ALSO BE CONVERTED TO THE MODEL 8 ALLOWING YOU TO ADD THE 296 LATER IF YOU WISH. MUSE HAS THE MODEL 3 PRE-AMP AS WELL AT $1,950.00. IF YOU'RE GOING UP TO $4,500 DON'T DO ANYTHING UNTIL YOU CHECK OUT THE MODEL NINE.

I question why anyone would spend big bucks on digital right now. You might want to wait until the formats for higher bit/sample rates shake out. It would be a shame for you to get a system that won't play one of the newer formats. New machines are due out by mid-year. Any DVD player will also play CDs. The onboards D/A converters will not degrade the performance of your EAD, but they "wasted" since they'll go unused. You bypass the onboard DAC whenever you used the digital outputs.