Good dac to reproduce soprano vocals?

Thanks for the thoughtful responses. To be more specific about my request, I am currently using a "pretty good" dac (the Calyx 24/192) which does a beautiful job with female vocals in general. Karrin Allyson's jazz album "Round Midnight" (a 48k/24bit download) sounds fabulous. What I'm referring to is the soprano vocalist who can produce an immediate crescendo of immense power and beauty. I have only heard this done with any grace by the Berkeley Audio Alpha, and it was lacking the warmth of the real thing. In my system, those powerful crescendos on a redbook cd are typically hard and glassy.

In most cases, I'm thinking that 44.1k/16 bit recordings just aren't capable of capturing this accurately without some "reinterpretation or interpolation" by a dac. If you want to know what I'm talking about take a listen to Kiri Te Kanawa's cds from the 80s and 90s. And the latest from Susan Graham (a mezzo) isn't a whole lot better. Are these performances just going to be lost in the wake of the turn to digital recording?

Hello Steve and thanks,
That's what I've been waiting to hear. That is, how does one rid a good system of these digital nasties. I've been aware of your products for some time and appreciate your input. I can go all day long listening to redbook and be quite happy until I put on one of my favorite opera recitals. SACD goes a long way in improving the sound but I'm still searching for a remedy for 44.1 discs. Any chance you'll be at the Capital Audiofest in July?

Edorr,thanks. I generally try to use your approach for a lot of components. What's interesting to me about this thread, so far, is that no one has replied with any first hand experience from listening to opera. I guess that means I'm a very small audience for this stuff, and that the empirical approach may well be the way to go. No pun intended, Steve.

Dracule1,
Thanks, I hear you. Am looking at the Metrum Hex. NOS gets good reviews regarding acoustic music. Interesting that I started this thread thinking that code manipulation was the answer, but now see that many consider NOS the superior way to go.

David12,
Thanks for the suggestion regarding the QB9. Has that dac been updated recently?
Renee Fleming has been served a little better than her predecessors. I have several of her recordings and even a couple that sound pretty good as digital. For some reason, Renee Fleming "The Beautiful Voice" sounds good even with my dac. And her SACD "Bel Canto" is also very nice.