Are there digital front ends with the body...

I guess that is what you get if you produce for all-day-long sonic drizzle out of small dickey boxes that only digital made possible, muzak instead of music (am I getting old or just a bellyacher?)

No you are right on - sonic drizzle!

I would say the best transport/dacs on the market right now are

1) orpheus zero transport/ orpheus heritage dac
2) Zanden transport/dac

Both of these options represent the best digital solutions money can buy.

i have auditioned both closely, and while the heritage IMHO represents the pinnacle of digital technology available today, the zanden combo was more musical and the most analogue sounding.

Both of these options represent the best digital solutions money can buy.

When did you compare "the best digital solutions money can buy" to EMM Labs Signature combo? Any of the newest dCS gear? Latest Esoteric combos? Ayre? AMR? In your system? Direct A-B?

Regards,
Alex

hi alex:

as a dsigner and modifier of digital hardware, you must know that there is no best dac/transport combination, just as there is no best preamp, no bets amplifier, no best speaker, etc. . why audiophiles persist in asking this question is beyond me. perhaps you have an answer.

as far as body is concerned, a subjective term as it is, one might want to consider some of the older tube players, like the cal tempest or aria.

"Body" has nothing to due with accurate, neutral and transparent reproduction of a recording. In addition, there is only as much "body" as exists in the recording's mix, which varies from disc to disc (or lp to lp).

If one seeks "body" beyond what exists on a recording and what is reproduced by a transparent system, then one seeks coloration to please their subjective taste. There's nothing wrong with that, but the term has no bearing on "the best" digital or analog source machine, which by definition should be neutral.

If we're defining "best" based on subjective rpeferrences, then all bets...and comparisons...are of no value unless one happens to know the listening preferences of the person offering the opinion.

IMO...