Have you heard the new Zanden digital gear?

47 Labs Flatfish used as a transport.

I spent some time in the Zanden room at HE2004, I thought the speakers were the weakest link in that setup. I brought my favorite test disc along for the ride, and even the guy in the room wanted to take my disc off the system. It just couldn't handle low end bass at all. But anyway, thats a moot point for this thread.

I've been living with a Zanden MK3 for about a month now. For my ears, the Zanden is an experience that needs to be heard. I had a friend over to hear it, and his comments were that there was no trace of digital sound. The music definately has soul now, relaxed, dynamic, and full sounding. Detail is the best I've heard.

I'm still tweaking the setup, but I'm very pleased.

Dependability is not an issue. Unless I don't understand the question? I change the tubes myself, simply open it up and swap them out. The low output voltage doesn't make a difference in my system, but then again, I have a pre-amp. Perhaps the low output voltage would be a concern to those who use passive volume controls.

In summary, I have no regrets at all, the Zanden makes my CDs sound better than I have ever heard before. Last xmas I was looking at vinyl rigs and heard some very $$$ setups (those outrages setups > $50k). Do they sound good, of course, but now, I really don't have a desire to get into vinyl because I don't have a vinyl collection to begin with. I did the silly thing of trading all my vinly in for CDs back in the early 80s. Bad mistake. I seem to learn the hard way...:)

Regardless, if you're interested in the Zanden, then do your best to try to hear one, its well worth the effort. Unless you want to take a risk and buy one sight unseen - which is what I did. :)

My short list came down to 2 dacs: Zanden and EMM DCC2. My reasoning was that I love tubes and there was a used Zanden listed on here, so I grabbed it. Maybe I've transitioned over to a hard core tube lover. :O

Good luck with your journey!