I would stick to the straight TUBE DAC. If you have Maggies or stats then the artifical zing of the plus and the slightly lower bass may be your cup of tea. I just ordered a tube dac and upgraded PS after spending a few hours with a friends unit in my system.
I was really impressed, I am a midrange freak and love vocals, and for me I think I made the correct decision.
The CI,dACK,modded PT, Bel Canto 2 and Benchmark are all good and in the right system may be the best.
I have read about several SHOOTOUTS but I could not take them seriously. The author of one shootout used mainly Jazz Instrumentals and my least favorite speaker.
The author of another used the same brand of speakers and listens to RAPP and preferred the ART DI/O
In the end as to the new breed of small Inexpensive DACs I think It's a crapshoot. What works for one may not work for you.
A good transport and cabling will go a long way in Improving the sound. In my system I preferred my JPS Digital AC power cord over the in line Bybee filters.
Good luck and listen to the music, not the components.
I was really impressed, I am a midrange freak and love vocals, and for me I think I made the correct decision.
The CI,dACK,modded PT, Bel Canto 2 and Benchmark are all good and in the right system may be the best.
I have read about several SHOOTOUTS but I could not take them seriously. The author of one shootout used mainly Jazz Instrumentals and my least favorite speaker.
The author of another used the same brand of speakers and listens to RAPP and preferred the ART DI/O
In the end as to the new breed of small Inexpensive DACs I think It's a crapshoot. What works for one may not work for you.
A good transport and cabling will go a long way in Improving the sound. In my system I preferred my JPS Digital AC power cord over the in line Bybee filters.
Good luck and listen to the music, not the components.