The Chord DAC64 was certainly the answer to my prayers. Before I discovered it, as the result of reading the favorable review in Hi-Fi+, I was ready to bail out on digital completely and go balls-out on an update of my analog source. I replaced a Wadia 830 with a CEC TL-1X/DAC64 combo and never looked back.
As for SACD: Of course I have no idea what your musical tastes are, but I'm primarily into classical, chamber music in particular. The dearth of classical SACDs (mostly recycled analog stuff) keeps me from really getting excited
about the format. I have three hybrids and recently bought a Sony -775 (bottom feeder, but highly praised, for the money, by TAS) at a closeout price of $180 just to sample the alleged delights of SACD. As far as I'm concerned, the CD layer played on the CEC/Chord is superior. I'm sure there are much, much better SACD players out there, but right now I have no interest in the format, other than buying hybrids that appeal to me, in lieu of single layer CDs.
As for SACD: Of course I have no idea what your musical tastes are, but I'm primarily into classical, chamber music in particular. The dearth of classical SACDs (mostly recycled analog stuff) keeps me from really getting excited
about the format. I have three hybrids and recently bought a Sony -775 (bottom feeder, but highly praised, for the money, by TAS) at a closeout price of $180 just to sample the alleged delights of SACD. As far as I'm concerned, the CD layer played on the CEC/Chord is superior. I'm sure there are much, much better SACD players out there, but right now I have no interest in the format, other than buying hybrids that appeal to me, in lieu of single layer CDs.