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I'm looking for a way to "sweeten" the sound of my stock MSB III DAC. It does sound pretty good in my system: YBA Integre DT, Cambridge Audio 540D (as transport), JMLab Megane Carats, Van den Hull speaker wire and locally made audiophile interconnects.

However, after listening to the Cambridge as a CD player on its own I have come to confirm what I suspected all along: Piano sounds absolutely lousy with the MSB! No harmonics, lots of attack but not at all sweet, (just felt hammers pounding on metal strings). Please listen to the Live 2001 recording of Egberto Gismonti and Charlie Haden as a point of reference. The piano on my system sounds at times like it's played by a ham fisted kid... (Better on the Cambridge alone... go figure)

Voices however sound great and horns, drum and bass are all excellent, (strings less so). But I also want a more luscious sound, piano that intoxicates with trailing harmonics, some wood and rosin on strings. The MSB is a lot better than the Cambridge as a stand alone CD player, (the Cambridge sounds thinner and tilted slightly toward treble, has less detail, not good in my system...). It seems to be a very good transport though and I have very good bass weight, good punch and very nice stereo seperation and layering.

So, I'd love suggestions. Either for a new DAC that will offer a lusher and richer sound with better timbral accuracy of pianos (and all other instruments as well), (I play the piano), Or a tried and true modification that can be done. The miracle must happen within the humble range of $500.00 to $600.00....

Thanks for any help