DAC to add warmth and fullness to Linn Ikemi

Based on prior ownership and/or listening:

#1: DCS used Delius $3K ish
#2: Kora Hermes - tubed so you can play a bit with that, price used estimated at about $800-900 ish
#3: CAL Audio Alpha - really an impressive DAC for the used money of about $500ish. Tubed so can tune to your preferences

These are all great DACs that based on my comparitive listening with the newer DACs selling in the $1K to $2K range are quite a bargain. Though it should be noted that especially with the Kora and CAL, you are getting older chipsets but the benefit of tubes to tailor the sound to your liking. Tubes in DACs last a long time, so it is not much of a continuous replacement aspect.

To be honest, I have not been overly impressed with very many of the $1,000 newer DACs that have made a lot of outlandish claims in terms of performance, but I think there are some new chipsets that are quite good. But unfortunately, the best of these chipsets seem to turn up in the much higher priced DACs.

Tobias, I like that call on the Apogee DAC. That is a good DAC, I have heard it but not in my system so I cannot say its character regarding warmth - but a very good DAC indeed. I think there is even one of these for sale right now (10/1/08). For the record I am in no way associated with the sale of this piece if it is in fact still listed.

Your GBP is pretty close to $2K which if you hunt and search could almost get you a DCS delius without 1394. That would be my highest recommendation. I have gone through some pretty good digital in the past couple of months and that is one helluva good DAC! Prices are dropping like crazy here in the States. Some great buying opportunities!

Be cautious with trying to impact sound attributes too much with cables. The idea of significantly warming up the sound of your system with a single cable switch is very likely to resutl in other trade-offs. While cables can and certainly do contribute to the sound characteristics of a system, a single cable switch out that takes the whole system sound in a new direction is suspect in my mind.

Case in point, in a recent CDP purchase, I was a bit concerned as I was installing a new CDP for one that is notoriously warm and may end up too bright. The dealer suggested I may want to have a pair of balanced Cardas Golden Cross cables on hand - so I bought a pair. As it turned out, I didn't need them but I tried them anyway. They sure warmed up my sound, too much and my bass fell apart completely. Resolution dropped significantly. They did do what I was told they would, warmed up my sound but at a steep cost everywhere else. My point is that adding a little bit of warmth, especially when replacing a bright tending cable is onething, but adding too much of anything with a cable change should be done very carefully.

Kops idea of considering the replacement or the Nordost is not a bad idea at all, but be careful as to "how warm of a cable you move to".