Hi Hitv:
I personally had a similar setup with a Wadia 22 transport to a Tri-Vista 21 tube DAC and found my music server Squeeze Box 3 output to the Tri-Vista 21 rivaling my Red CD source.
I still was not convince and decided to change my CD transport unit for a Mark Levinson 37 with a error clock correction/jitter mod from Empirical Audio. The Mark levinson barely out performed the Squeeze box 3. However at the price 20 times more.
Ideally you should consider the Logitech Transporter that already has a internal DAC which will out do any Red Book CD at the native 96/24 hi-res download.
I have A/B a Benchmark DAC1, to the Transporter and found the Transporter DAC with better dynamics and less floor noise also not as clinical.
Consider output from the Transporter analog stage to the input of a analog volume controlled pre-amp preferred tube base and make sure that the Transporter volume is at 100% fix not to lose bit resolution. Than control the volume through your pre-amp.
Enjoy Music.
I personally had a similar setup with a Wadia 22 transport to a Tri-Vista 21 tube DAC and found my music server Squeeze Box 3 output to the Tri-Vista 21 rivaling my Red CD source.
I still was not convince and decided to change my CD transport unit for a Mark Levinson 37 with a error clock correction/jitter mod from Empirical Audio. The Mark levinson barely out performed the Squeeze box 3. However at the price 20 times more.
Ideally you should consider the Logitech Transporter that already has a internal DAC which will out do any Red Book CD at the native 96/24 hi-res download.
I have A/B a Benchmark DAC1, to the Transporter and found the Transporter DAC with better dynamics and less floor noise also not as clinical.
Consider output from the Transporter analog stage to the input of a analog volume controlled pre-amp preferred tube base and make sure that the Transporter volume is at 100% fix not to lose bit resolution. Than control the volume through your pre-amp.
Enjoy Music.