As good as this unit might be, I would sure want to hear the Meridian 808 Signature Reference ($13.5K) before buying in this price classMy neighbor has one. It sits idle on his shelf, bested by both MBL & Zanden. Yet even with the support of a $250K system in a blue-printed listening room, neither his MBL or Zanden transport/DAC combos dig out nearly as much presence and palpability as I heard from the APL. Not even close. I'm not talking about extension, air, transparency, etc....but purely about the daring presence of a person singing in front of you.
I'm the first to argue that there is no absolute 'best' in this hobby, but I must say that the NWO was spine-chillingly good.