I've just spent an evening listening to the Cary Xciter DAC and it's pretty amazing. Don't be fooled by the MSRP of $1,500. Cary kept the costs down by simplifying (no remote, single-ended outputs only, non-adjustable 24/192 upsampling, simple but solid enclosure). The money went into the state of the art 32-bit/192khz DAC chip and the new technology in the analog output stage. The previous owner feels that it's comparable to the $4,000 Cary 303/300 CDP in terms of DAC quality (he upgraded to the Cary 306 Pro SACD/CD player, an $8,000 unit). The Cary DAC immediately blew away my old but much enjoyed MSB DAC Link III with 24/96 upsampling and Powerbase. With the Cary processing Eva Cassidy's "Live at Blues Alley" CD, I heard much more detail with better dynamics, yet with an effortless sound and without any digital harshness. I turned up the volume and remained very comfortable for a long listening session, like listening to vinyl or SACD. Then I put on the hybrid SACD/CD of "The Ray Brown Trio, Live at the Loa," a very fine live jazz recording. I've listened to its SACD layer many times through my Sony SCD-2000ES player. However, the CD layer through the Cary (using the Sony as the transport) sounded better than the SACD layer going through the Sony's DSD DAC; more detail, more dynamics, taller and deeper soundstage, effortless detail. Next week I will receive a new Sony 5400ES SACD/CD player and the Cary will have some stiffer competition. (The Sony 5400 has no digital input, so I bought the Cary to process other sources, and eventually to serve as the DAC for a network music system, probably based on the new Squeezebox Touch, available in December, which will handle up to 24/96 input for $299 MSRP.) I hope this is helpful. I will comment later on the Cary's Toslink and USB inputs, and in comparison to the Sony 5400ES, if anybody's interested. You might want to hear this DAC before you spend a lot of money on mods to a CDP that may not have a DAC chip or output stage design that is as capable as the Cary's.
