PS Audio DL 3 or MF Tri Vista 21 DAC?

At the price level you're looking at I would reassess your choice of a seperate DAC. I've tried tons of digital cables, they can make a big difference, a good one is costly. Secondly, transports make a big difference, you will not be hearing the potential of either of those DACs using the Onkyo as a transport.

try the stereovox xv2 digital cable. Can be purchased new $200 and used $150. You won't get better performance for the money.

Interesting choices - couldn't be much more yin and yang.

I had a TriVista - it is a superb unit - was pretty much the queen of the ball and the toast of the town 3-4 years ago. The ones that were modded by Parts Connexion/Underwood were even better - that's what I had. (FWIW its worth I preferred it in NOS not the oversampling mode)

I have not heard the PS Audio unit.

At the time I ran the DAC directly from my Mac with a USB to SPDIF converter and then a SPDIF cable in. I went through a number of SPDIF cables till I found my winner, the original Stealth Varidig which at the time was $350 used.

I had gotten the cable here on the Gon. It replaced a Cardas. One of my first big steps up in price (the TriVista was the first) I plugged the Stealth in, noticed a minimum change, consoled myself with the idea that it was better and went about my business. Two days later, there was a definitive moment where everything suddenly snapped into a higher plane. I know its a complete cliche but the transformation in the sound was jaw dropping.

So yes the cable matters a great deal and can cost a great deal of money. To Jamesw20's point the Stereovox, which came along a bit later has a great rep - I never heard it.

So you know, while it is true that bits is bits, SPDIF is a flaky format that is very dependent on the details of implementation. In this regard all manufacturers are not created equal.

Later on I bought the Wireworld SuperNova 5+ Toslink cable and ran Toslink out of the Mac. The sound was very, very close. The Toslink offers the benefit of galvanic isolation (the DAC and the source are electrically decoupled by the use of fiber optics instead of wire.) I mention this because you can get a 5m Wireworld for considerably less then a 1m Stealth which may be of interest.

BTW the TriVista is one of the few DACs I have owned that is not highly sensitive to power cables - which reflects the fact that it is an incredibly well designed and built unit from one of the premier companies in the biz.

So on the surface, for a grand the TriVista is the slam dunk choice. It's built like a tank, there are lots of loyal MF customers and tons of great reviews so when time comes to resell, you wouldn't regret it.

BUT if your near term goal is to move to a hard drive transport system, the TriVista doesn't have USB and that would be (and was) the deal killer for me.

This is where the PS Audio comes to the fore. No doubt if or when I had the scratch I would have Cullen do the upgrade. (But enjoy it stock first so you can marvel later at what your upgrade dollars bought you.)

I have enormous respect for sixmoons and for Paul Candy. But it's only one opinion in one article. And there are an awful lot of people who don't agree. It is certainly not consistently shared even in sixmoons.

If you had a truly high quality transport it would be worth A/Bing the USB and SPDIF connection - the unit gives you the option. Of course if you don't already have such a unit it's a moot point - and acquiring a good enough one to be worthy of an experiment will set you back more then you are planning to pay for the DAC (never mind the cable cost).

Whatever DAC you chose, just be sure it reclocks the signal. If it does, it is my opinion the transport will not make such a difference as Sns alludes.

I haven't experiemented with coax cables to the level as others have, but the two I did I could hear no difference.

Brian

All I can say is looking into the used components here on AGON I have not seen MORE available used dacs than the PS DL3's over the last few months.. I don't know what it means, but obviously they either sold a ton of them, or people are moving on rather quickly.. But I have seen about 3 a week at least come up, then again they sell pretty fast too.

I am not slamming PS as I own one of their best pieces and love it to this day.. I have not heard this DAC however, just letting you know my thoughts, as today in digital you can in fact Find some hidden Gems which would sound for way less money as good as a DAC that cost 20,000 10 years ago!