Need some advise on DAC's please....

I have not heard the DACs you have mentioned but good alternatives are the Audio Logic which uses tubes and the Chord 64 which is SS. I thought that both represent the best value in their price ranges.

Happy Listening.

You may want to look into non-up/oversampling DACS. Audio Note and Shigaraki (47 Labs) have good information on their sites about the concept. Both have good products as well which I looked at closely before deciding on an Audio Mirror DAC available here on Audiogon for $499. Plays like 3 - 4x the price. From a tube component builder but this is a solid state. Very analogue if that is what you are looking for.

Mang53, I had a Plantine Koetsu combination a few years back and know the sound your getting and don't think you will be satisfied with a lower cost Dac, as the Audio Mirror, Flatfish etc. I have heard both the Zanden and the Stax Dacs and found them both very anoloque sounding with out any loss of information. The Oracle transport is absolutely gorgous, however; at that price level there is major competition, as in; MBL Dac and transport, although the MBLs oversample, they are the most analoque sounding combo other than the Forsell. If your mind is made up on the Oracle, than I would get the Stax Dac, which edged out the Zanden in my system.

I have heard grat things about he Dodson 218 DAC. I do not have personal experience with it but it might be worth checking out.

Apart from the EMM (Meitner) DAC ($@10,000) and the new, one piece DCS DAC (@ $17,000), which sound superbly analogue, I would also recommend the Dodson DA-218 (@$7,000). These are the one's that I've actually heard, and not just read about.

Enjoy,
Bob