Looking for new DAC: one box or two?

I would say, just go with whatever sounds best and not worry about how many boxes you end up with.

"08-13-15: Arsh
Thanks. To some extent my question relates to the relative importance of the transport and the pros/cons of having the transport and DAC together or separate."

Everything is important. But there's really no "better" configuration. There's enough product diversity to allow you good sound regardless of how the individual pieces are laid out. My recommendation would be to focus on 2 areas. Your needs and your personal preferences. Get that right, and its pretty hard to screw up.

"08-16-15: Arsh
Thanks Coli. This is getting confusing. Are you suggesting that my old TriVista would still be competitive with today's DACs? I guess the only way for me to know is an A-B comparison in my system. But I had assumed that new ones would easily beat mine. Anyone?..."

I have no idea how Coli judges dacs to come up with that conclusion. The important thing to remember, is that's how he does it. I will do things differently, as will you. If you look at my last post, its pretty simple in concept, but difficult in practice. Personal preference is different for each one of us.

This is no different than if you asked us what color car to buy. You'll get a bunch of different, equally valid answers, and if you take them literally, it will be confusing. The only way to avoid the confusion is to make the choice yourself. There's just no way around it.

It looks like you currently have something that's working well for you. Take your time and do some listening. When you hear something you like, you'll know almost instinctively. The confusion will just evaporate, and so will the money in your bank account.

"08-19-15: Coli
Actually, there's plenty of high end DACs that sounds no better than cheap AV Receivers."

I'd like to know as well. Its not often that someone takes a high end dac and compares it to the dac in a mass market receiver, while in the same system. I'm sure everyone here would find the results of your comparisons to be valuable information.

"08-22-15: Arsh
Thanks for the clarification guys. I would request that we please redirect the conversation toward my topic. Anyone care to add their comments on that please?"

We were on topic. When you're asking for advice, you have no idea who's giving it. A lot of posters will sound reasonable at first, but then deteriorate as the conversation goes on. Coli's first post set off a big red flag, and he confirmed it with his second post. From that point on, the back and forth was for you. It was so you could see that Coli was making claims he could never back up. And when I say we, I'm assuming Rhanson739 was trying to make the same point that I was.

EAR makes some good sounding equipment. They do have some reliability issues, so I wouldn't recommend them unless you have a really good dealer that has their own service department.

Have you ever compared your CD player by itself, to how it sounds with the dac?