Jump in now or wait?

I jumped a few months ago. I have a pretty good digital front end in my soundroom (Esoteric X03 SE). I went with a direct PC based system (Gateway PC w/Sigma HD audio on mother board with 75 ohm coax out into Monarchy DIP, into Music Fidelity XDac3 w/XPsuV3 power supply, shunyata diamond back cables and nordost digital cable into Cayin A-50T tube intergrated (Nordost Red Dawn IC) into B & W 685 speakers (monster speaker cable for now); in the soundroom, we added a squeeze box with CI outboard power supply, nordost didigal cable, into benchmark DAC (w/o USB), Shuntata Taipan Helix VX power cable on the Benchmark and Signal Power Cable on CI power supply. The DAC goes into preamp with Tara Labs RSC Air 1 single ended IC (also experimented with Monster Sigma Retro balanced but as my Esoteric uses the only balanced inputs on my preamp, I setled with the single ended for convenience. I didn't do an extended comparison between the benchmark single ended outputs vs. the balanced, though I probably should have). The PC direct system sounds sweet and I listen while I play with the PC; It's suprisingly good actually (I use J River with an Hitachi 1 terabyte external USB2 HD, a Meridian 504 tuner, Farajouda DV1000 as sources (DV1000 used as CD player) (ripping is done with EAC/FLAC files) while I can't compare it to the dedicated sound room, for a few grand, it makes me smile while I listen. The squeezebox/benchmark system in the sound room sounds awesome. The Esoteric is better (more resolved, detailed, transparent, wider & deeper soundstage, lower noise floor, blacker back grounds, deeper base, a bit more musical, better pace, high end extension, etc)but the ability to put together a playlist of a few hours long, comprised of my favorites, kind of off sets things (kind of). The SB/Benchmark is very engaging, not fatiguing, has great low level detail and deep soundstage, though not as wide as I had hoped). There is air around the instruments, it's pretty transparent and, all in all, very enjoyable. I wouldn't give up the Esoteric but if budget was a consideration, I could understand bypassing the CD player and going with, say, a Bel Canto DAC 3 instead of the benchmark. That may very well bring things closer. SACD not withstanding (SACD blows away the flac files through the SB/Benchmark~but also blows away most (not all) redbook CD's through the Esoteric, if I didn't know what I was missing, I'd probably be thriled with the Squeezebox/DAC combo. If your stand alone CD budget is 2,000 - 3,000, I think the PC based system would surpass it (no transport noise w/squeezebox, not having to load CD's individually, etc). I don't use the PC as a CD player, just to rip, since I have the faroudja, which I think sounds pretty good. I have compared the sound of the PC CD player and the Faroudja and it wasn't close. I think the PC CD player does a fine job to rip, but it's just to noisey in a PC to use the drive as a CD player. I do have a Shunyata power cord intp PV with Monster 2000 power conditioner. I don't think upgraded power cables and using a line conditioner on computer (when using as a music server) can be easilly overlooked. The improvements were staggering. I am considering a symposium svelt shelf for under the PC in the future.

Dokosan-I'm in Holbrook. Ordered a bit of gear while parked on the LIE as well.

Enjoy the Benchmark! Go with a good power cable/line conditioner on that puppy.

I was leaving a response to someone else. Absent one, I may as well jump in. I am very partial to the Shunyata Cables. They have given me excellent results, although I am up to the Taipans and the Pythons, having started with the diamondbacks. The differnece between stock cables and the diamondbacks was noticable, but the more expensive taipans, and then python cables were quite night and day. I can't recommend a $600 power cables for a $950 component without getting laughed at, but I have found the result better than a $1,500 dac, with a stock cord. I must add that my power line feed and power conditioners (Hydra) may give the power cables more of an opportunity to do more, and your experiences may differ, but I am fortunate that my audio dealer is pretty much like a library, where you can borrow a cable and audition for a very long time, so it's pretty easy for me to experiment.

I can't say how invaluable forming a good relationship with a reputable dealer is. My audio guy and I must have similar tastes. He auditions, and recommends. I borrow, and usually end up buying. Some stuff has gone back but what I do like alot of what I take home, and end up purchasing.