"Old" vs. "new" digital equipment

Eweedhome, And I thought I was bad. It is nuts! That's why for music (just listening and not being critical) I love my old 20 bit Sony XA7es. I've noticed a good many old 20 bit players have a nice warm, more analogue sound than 24 bit players. Most 24 bit newer players seem to be a touch strident overall which I personally think is just a by-product of the median. I can give up some transparency for a richer overall sound.
The one thing to me that divides the players is sounstaging, both height, width and depth. This is where some of the pricier players live. Of course, your speakers must be up to offering this depth. Not just in the middle between the speakers but behind and even depth outside the speakers. Some speakers offer up an inverted "V" type of soundstaging depth with the max in the middle. I like a speaker that delivers more of a square where it's the same from side to side. This will let you know about cd players. David's system above is perfectly capable of this. I would also mention your room acoustics. I know for a fact the Vandersteen's David uses will offer up more than enough depth for a realistic soundstage. Some of your edginess in the strings may be reflections in the room.

I've been listening to the Theta DS Pro Va for roughly 3 hours comparing it to the BC3. Very tough here ...I detect no grain what so ever from the Theta. It is one musical Dac for sure. It never sounds harsh or vague too me.

It has more gain than the BC3, so it is tricky getting the proper volume between the two. As far as resolution goes there's no clear winner. The Theta may be a tad warmer in sound, but not enough to distract or make the music any less enjoyable. This Dac is easy to listen too..it just flows.

By the same token the BC3 may sound a little cooler in comparison. Again this is nitpicking.

I used a Promitheus TVC preamp with both units. I prefer to use my BC3 by itself. I wish this Theta model had a built in preamp. I'm sure a separate preamp would be unnecessary for it if it did.. at least in my system.

So the bottom line is, if I were you Bikecommuter, I would either have the unit upgraded depending on cost if possible or just buy a newer version. The Theta Va is a terrific Dac! Unless you're hunting for super high sampling and bit rates other than whats currently available on the market. Once you get to this level of sound..spending more is basically pissing in the wind IMO.

If you're hearing grain something is wrong with your current Dac or another component or it is just bad recordings.

Off topic, after running back and forth from the player to change CDs...I've come to the conclusion..I'll stick with the PC server as a transport. lol
This is way more work than I've become accustom too! ;-)

Good listening!

Bikecommuter, unfortunately the problem with massed strings lies with the speakers as well. While the vandy 3a sigs are great in so many ways there are speakers that handle strings quite a bit better.

Everyone is entitled to there opinion but after owning the 3A Signatures for years and comparing them to speaker after speaker, I can say without a doubt, they are one of the better speakers available at any price for reproducing mass strings (realistically.)In fact, this is one of the time and phase designs biggest attribute.

agree completely with bigtree....the more things change, the more they remain the same. the dna in every digital front end is not terribly different.