Steve,
I paired the Bel Canto with the Pioneer 525 for a number of months, before finally auditioning and then purchasing a dedicated CD transport. The 525 was pretty good, but the Proceed CDD transport I now use is much better in all respects, and pretty obviously so. Before you purchase the 525, I would suggest auditioning the DAC with a good CD transport. I know that BC once (still?) recommended using cheapo DVD players as transports, but my experience is more consistent with what other users seem to have found.
If you do use the 525, I found the sound was much better using an Acoustic Zen Silver Photon coax than any of the several Toslinks I tried.
Tbadder: how do you like the Linbrook monitors? How do they compare to other monitors you have heard?
C.
I paired the Bel Canto with the Pioneer 525 for a number of months, before finally auditioning and then purchasing a dedicated CD transport. The 525 was pretty good, but the Proceed CDD transport I now use is much better in all respects, and pretty obviously so. Before you purchase the 525, I would suggest auditioning the DAC with a good CD transport. I know that BC once (still?) recommended using cheapo DVD players as transports, but my experience is more consistent with what other users seem to have found.
If you do use the 525, I found the sound was much better using an Acoustic Zen Silver Photon coax than any of the several Toslinks I tried.
Tbadder: how do you like the Linbrook monitors? How do they compare to other monitors you have heard?
C.