Hi Matc. Forget about the DAC and buy a used Sony XA7ES CD player-- about $1200. and a Sonic Frontiers Line 1 pre-amp, about $1200. to $1400. The XA7 makes an excellent "stand alone" CD player or an excellent transport. The SF Line 1 adds smoothness and helps take the etched, electronic character out of ordinary CDs. I use this set up either with or without a Muse Model Two DAC, and the differences in music character/quality between the to systems are neglible. I've noticed that the Muse can be had for about $700. used, and it is an excellent DAC if you choose to use one. The Muse only has BNC inputs, but high quality BNC to coaxial RCA adaptors are available from Muse.
The best used preamp and d/a converter
My system consists of Revel's F-30 performa's and dual classe 100 amps, and a old Rotel Rsp960ax preamp and a denon cd player. I am definetly limited by the last two on that list and want to upgrade these components. I have been told the cp-50 or cp-60 would be a great preamp for my system and the theta IIIa converter with the data basic II transport would make a very nice system. I was just wondering what everyone else's thoughts are on this. Other recommenadtions would be helpfull. I am looking to spend about 1600 on the preamp, 900 d/a, and 450 on the transport. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks