All of these posts are most helpful to me. As a big proponent or separates, I am torn on doing so, or not, with my next Streamer/DAC. My current Streamer/DAC is a Cary Audio DMS-600 which sounds wonderful, but I want to explore more. I do not need a pre-amp function on this as I am quite pleased with my Conrad Johnson GAT unit and I have no desire to change that. My budget is $15K, plus or minus. I will be watching this thread quite closely as it progresses.