My Experience with Dave from Audio Doctor NJ

The Zenith mk 3's will be released this month so you might find a mk 2 demo for a good price.  Good luck with whatever you choose.

Thanks, I'll listen to the mk3 before I decide.  

oldschool1948... since you're in the DC area, JS Audio in Bethesda is an excellent dealer offering a number of the fine brands mentioned here.  I've felt with them for years and still do now, from Florida.

I'm a little familiar with JS Audio.  Excellent product selection, most of which are very high-end and out of my price range.  My budget is ~$3,500 retail for whatever I purchase.

Guys, digital is a strange beast and most folks just don't want to spend the time to ask the right questions or do it correctly.  There are some outstanding pieces of digital gear, but it may be the most important place in the system to have synergy.  I relate it to the tonearm/cart marriage.

I've spend way too much time with so many pieces of digital, filters, LPS units, Cables, cords and of course signal optical isolation.  There are some key places to look at and electrical is soooo important.  You must start with clean electric power. Even more so than with an amp for some reason.  Then you need to figure out what DAC you will ultimately be using and then the connection.  Some are optimized for USB and some for Etherrnet and some for.....  Even my Ayre, that Charlie himself said was optimized for all inputs sounded best in my system with the ethernet and then the BNC connections.  Small, but noticeable differences (I did love that DAC, especially for the price).  

The best main stream server I heard was the Aurender N10 (as well as the W20).  They just got things right and are so easy to use.  Most folks won't miss not having Room with it either.  The Innuos is a nice unit also as are many of the new servers coming out.  It's in it's infancy.  I ended up with a Memory Player and I've heard nothing on the market that comes close to it for any price.  I am in shock by the new DAC that they are making for it.  I have the prototype and it's already great.  Upside/downside to many top digital products.....support.  Smaller companies will be around as long as the designer/owners are.  That's important to many, but if you want the best digital sounds, so far it's a small group of companies that I've found who are the best adn give you the personal attention you need, but how long will they be able to?  

I know that the Memory Player folks (not to be confused with PS Audio who sells a Memory Player, but isn't the same company, lol) has a mini server that shares much of the tech with my reference unit and is a great value also.  I know a few guys who love that one too.  

it's impossible to audition so many of these units as they are factory direct, so this is why so many will stick to a dealer.  If through a dealer, I'd ask them how long they have carried the line.  I'd take a look at how often the company 'refreshes their models'.  Is it the same model that they have just kept upgrading over time (Aurender is like this I know as are a few others) or are their mk 2's and 3's and 4's every two years.  In digital, they should be able to do software updates to keep their products shelf lives at the 7 year range or so. They can do it in digital if they design it correctly to begin with.  Those were my criteria.  

There are a ton of great products and dealers to chose from, so go listen and use your ears.  Just make sure you use a great neutral cable and feed it the cleanest power you can afford.  I use the new AQ Niagara cleaner (sold my top end Synergistic Research) and the new Hurricane power cords as I have found them to bet the best in MY system IRT power. I borrowed MANY cords and none were close and that includes a few in the 8k plus range.  Oh, I didn't keep the optical isolation (although you can't go wrong with it) as I found the $130 EMO medical filter to be best for my ethernet feed, but you then need two ethernet cables, lol...was worth it for my Tidal streaming.