DCS Verdi Elgar Purcell VS. Audio Aero Capitole

Don't read it! You never know when seeing or hearing something that bothers you will cause you to commit a violent act of aggression.

OK, I'll be brave :-) Haven't heard the DCS gear in a couple of years, but it was mechanical sounding to me then compared with the phono in the same system....The AA is musical as the devil, but has a smaller stage and isn't as dynamic as some....Don't know how the Lindemann got on this thread, but it is lacking low level detail and is rolled up top at least with Fred's current thinking on isolation as of last Saturday night....Assuming the microprocessor problems of the AA have been fixed and your preamp has a fairly high input impedance I would go with the AA....The tube output section in the AA is going to be a lot happier driving 50K or higher pots....Fred didn't have that option as his preamp has 10K pots....Is that violent enough? This was bothersome for me as I used to modify a digital outfit, but haven't in a while and the units are out of print....

Rcrump, you will never find THE perfect player. But the Lindemann seems to be perfect enough, for an extremely discerning customer like Fred is, to keep it.
I have been in contact with Fred to help him find the best support for the player, which is Mana-Neuance table and to take a look at his Valhalla ics. There might be a better, switchable interconnect option out there to close the, what you call the 50k to 10k gap of his pre-amp pots.

I gave up trying to find a perfect player and will likely have to build one....No problems with the Lindemann driving the 10K pots in Fred's preamp, the problem is the Audio Aero's tube output section will not be happy driving 10K as don't believe it is buffered.....Maybe Jonathan will advise on this as I am a wealth of misinformation :-)

It was a waste of time 10 years ago, believing in good digital sound, it is today and in my opinion it will be the same in the year 2525 ......
Why ?
The marketing power makes all manufacturers and dealers live and that's the point. Who cares about the best sound ? What is that ? The digital master ? The engineer who made it ? The whatever .... Forget it.
Even today, when I listen to digital, I think it is just ok, when it doesn't make me leaving the room after 10 seconds crying out loudly. Some Dacs are ok or good, of course, but all these discussions are nonsens.
Every new month, when a new unit comes out, and the discussion starts again, ..." is it better ....how much better ... most bang for the buck ....should I match this with that ....what cable for my transport ....and and and "

I own dCS gear, because it didn't make me cry when listening to CD, most other units I listened to, did that, most digital products are in my opinion more or less all the same average nonsens, but dCS engineers are among the best.

When I wouldn't have my analog combo, I would have quit this ' hobby' many years ago.

And, one thing, never trust a dealer's opinion, when he writes something about the new digital ' revolution' , and be careful with readers recommendations, who owned "everything".
Someone who owned everything, and writes, he got the REAL TRUTH now, has absolutely no idea from the stuff he made his investigations. Tomorrow he gets a new truth ....A waste of time to read that.
Just my 2c.